Dealing With Nonrountine, Transient Or Dynamic Work Operations

DOE-STD-6005-2001

Among the recognized, alternate protocols is the use of a review group to screen/assess all planned

hazardous work activities and develop appropriate procedures and controls for specific work packages

early in the work planning process. This review group includes multi-discipline, health and safety subject

matter experts. The protocol involves the identification or development of controls, walk downs of the

planned work area, and close cooperation between health and safety professionals and work planners. The

screening process may also identify the need for additional/special work permits, exposure monitoring

and/or surveillances.

Such practices result in an individualized industrial hygiene review for each non-routine work activity.

This may provide a much higher level of involvement and more reliable hazard control for such activities

than that provided by standard surveys, monitoring, and reports. A disadvantage of this approach is the

potential loss of documentation afforded by the traditional comprehensive survey report to line

management. With individualized work planning and hazard screening, exposure assessments are usually

only implicit, that is, inferred from the utilized controls and their protective characteristics. Such inferred

exposure estimates may be supplemented using qualitative or semi-quantitative grab and/or worst case

sampling techniques, where feasible. The use of individual work packages typically does not result in

comprehensive site-wide hazard inventories and some of the standard documentation listed in section 6.2

may not be available using the work project planning process.