24.04.2008 // Information Department of Leningrad NPP

Occupational safety and health management system at Leningrad NPP-2

All state companies in our country have occupational safety and health management systems (OSH)(labor protection systems). They are established at one and the same time with the establishment of a company. In the nuclear industry OSH standards are very high and their observance is closely controlled at all levels from foremen up to top managers. The system is managed by special executives – heads of labor protection services. This is the so-called primary level of the OSH management system. All the nuclear power plants of Russia have it and Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant-2 is not an exception.

As the «veteran» of our nuclear power industry, Leningrad NPP-1 has provided LNPP-2 with a professional labor protection executive, «the young specialist of the old plant,» Sergey Pomogov. Pomogov is an operating safety engineer. He came to Leningrad NPP in 2003 and is already the head of the occupational sanitation laboratory due to his personal qualities and the professional guidance of his colleagues. As you may see, the «supply» of «high-quality» young specialists to LNPP-2 is one more advantage of the «geopolitical» situation of the new plant.

We have asked Pomogov to tell us about the OSH management system of LNPP-2:

— How many people do you have in the Directorate for the Construction of Leningrad NPP-2?

— As of now, we have got 58 employees but we are actively recruiting new ones. We have a collective agreement and we provide our employees with relevant social guarantees and benefits.

— This is good. And what about your occupational safety and health management system?

— We established the system in Dec 2007. Then we had 36 employees. Today, the system is functioning in line with relevant requirements: we have developed instruction programs (induction, primary and refresher training) as well as instruction manuals and OSH guides for workplaces, including a list of necessary individual protection means (by the way, we already have all necessary protection means).

We have allocated necessary funds for the plan of action 2008. We have also developed a program of instruction of people working in offices where the only electric system is computer. This program is part of the electric safety training of the first group of personnel. All of our heads of departments are members of the committee that checks up the labor protection knowledge of our personnel and all of them have attended special training courses at the St.Petersburg Institute of Occupational Safety, Labor Protection and Social Partnership. All the employees of the Directorate are regularly tested as to their knowledge of labor protection rules.

— But you also have people from contractor organizations, don;t you?

— All the people working at the construction site undergo regular labor protection inspections. We have lots of people from contractor organizations who are digging the foundation pit, building temporary roads, pumping stations and a motor road from Kalische. The contract says that the management of the occupational safety and health of those people and their compliance with the labor protection rules are the duty of the general contractor of the project, St.Petersburg Atomenergoproekt.

The general contractor is scrupulously meeting all of its obligations: we have jointly drafted a schedule of quarterly labor protection inspections and a work permission act specifying people who are responsible for the observance of the labor protection rules by our personnel and all measures the latter have to carry out before starting their work. The head of the Directorate personally controls this process. Each week the labor protection commission checks up if the personnel comply with the safety protection rules and issues an act specifying all deficiencies and deadlines for their elimination.

— What kind of problems do they detect?

— The lack of fences and trenches, the improper storage of materials and domestic waste and the lack of protective helmets are the most typical violations of the OSH standards.

— What is the average age of your employees?

— I can’t say for sure. I think it must be 36–37.

— What is the age of you equipment?

— It is absolutely new, mostly of European manufacture.

Ludmila Romanova