Background - Continued

DOE-STD-7501-99

Following the Department's commitment to implement Integrated Safety Management as the

Department's approach to managing work, the Deputy Secretary and DOE Operations Managers

tasked the Department Standards Committee to review the status of lessons learned programs.

This review found that many formal and informal lessons learned activities are in place and being

used. Many enhancements have been made since the issuance of the original lessons learned

technical standard in 1995 through local initiative and work by the Society for Effective Lessons

Learned Sharing (SELLS) established as a result of the Process Improvement Team efforts.

However, the review respondents identified five key concerns about the DOE corporate lessons

learned function. These concerns included:

lessons learned focus principally on corrective actions for Environment, Safety and Health

issues

lessons learned focus principally on contractor activity work

lessons learned seldom address work by DOE personnel

lessons learned do not address management systems or institutional issues

determining the relevance of lessons from other facilities, sites or external organizations is

difficult

This Technical Standard has been revised to address these issues. It builds upon the

programmatic information provided in earlier versions of the standard and expands on suggestions

provided by DOE and DOE contractors. Lessons learned are described within the context of

Integrated Safety Management. High-level guidance for tailoring local lessons learned programs

are provided in the form of management expectations, and requirements for interfacing local

programs with the DOE Corporate Lessons Learned program are provided.