Preparing to Assess Communications.

DOE-EM-STD-5505-96

6.4.2 Preparing to Assess Communications. To develop an assessment plan for

Communications, assessors should first review the activity-specific graded-approach document for

conduct of operations and determine which guidelines are applicable at the activity. This will

allow them to determine the scope of the assessment and which applicable activity policies and

procedures to review when developing the assessment plan. Sections 5.4 and 5.8 provide a

detailed explanation of assessment planning and the use of assessment techniques.

6.4.3 Observation. Observations of activity communications should be conducted during

walkthroughs and tours with operations department personnel, and during the conduct of special

operations and drills. The activity plan of the day and plan of the week should be reviewed to

determine the time and place for observing operations and drills. The following situations are

good candidates for observing communication:

Periodic testing of emergency communication systems and equipment. Emergency

communications systems should be periodically tested to ensure that they are functional.

Control areas should have the capability of overriding other users of the public address system

for emergency announcements.

Maintenance and other activities that require communications between roving operators,

control area operators, and shift supervisors

Startup and shutdown of systems and equipment

Activity drills

Occurrence notifications

Shift turnover and shift crew briefings

On-shift training activities

Monitoring radio channels used by operations

There are several aspects of communication that can be assessed during these situations. For

example, while observing a fire drill, the following items might be observed:

Operation of emergency communication systems and equipment