Safety

Due to COVID-19 public visits & activities are canceled

Important reference documents

• NOIRLab Safety Policy
• NOIRLab COVID Exposure Prevention Plan [English] [Spanish]
  • Coronavirus Exposure Prevention Plan Training Part I V.2
  • Coronavirus Exposure Prevention Plan Training Part II v 2
  • Coronavirus Exposure Prevention Plan Training Part III v 2
• NOIRLab Safety Health and Environment Plan [English] [Spanish] 
• NOIRLab Emergency Plan​​
• NOIRLab Workplace Security Plan

Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE)

NOIRLab management is committed to achieving the highest performance in safety, health, and environmental (SHE) management practices with the aim of creating and maintaining a safe and healthy working and operating environment. NOIRLab has a SHE Policy that focuses on personnel and equipment safety that will be utilized during operations and during any new design and construction projects. The SHE Policy covers all operational efforts while recognizing and relying on existing safety, health, and environmental policies in place at collaborators and participating institution locations when NOIRLab employees are visiting and potentially working at those locations.

The SHE Policy and the SHE Plan establishes and defines safety, health, and environmental requirements for NOIRLAB operations consistent with United States, States, and Chilean laws and regulations. The objective of the SHE Policy and SHE Plan is to make safety, health, and environmental management an integral part of the operational effort. The policy and the plan are intended to promote a culture where the safety and health of personnel and equipment is a paramount concern, and that individuals are empowered and management is structured to encourage and promote safety in all elements of operation. In particular, NOIRLab is committed to:

• Promote a work environment based on continuous improvement, employee involvement, ownership, teamwork, education, and leadership;
• Reinforce the need for people to care about the people that they work with;
• Promote the philosophy that safety is not a priority that can be reordered, it is a value associated with everything that we do;
• Recognize, reward, and reinforce our safety, health and environmental achievements, innovations, and behaviors;
• Address all known risks to people, property, and the environment;
• Exercise vigilance to ensure compliance with all applicable, laws, regulations, and management best practices;
• Integrate safety, health, and environmental considerations into operations to minimize loss; and Conduct sustainable programs to minimize pollution to the environment, to protect material resources, to honor cultural resources, and to minimize our impact on biota.

Safety Management

Safety (the control of accidental loss) will be managed by continuously improving a culture where all employees are (1) engaged in identifying and minimizing hazards in the workplace, (2) familiar with the known hazards and know how to control the hazards during their work, (3) motivated through self-discipline or peer pressure to consistently follow established safe and healthy work practices with or without direct supervision, and (4) assuring that coworkers comply with safe work practices.

As demonstrated in other company models, the long-term success in reducing loss requires that (1) management takes on safety as a company or even a personal value, (2) managers, scientists, engineers, and supervisors are responsible and accountable for the safety of the people that report to them or do work for them, (3) engineers continue to work on engineering controls to make the workplace safer, and (4) systems are in place the motivate people to work safely.

Stop Work Authority Summary

Any person can and shall immediately request termination of any activity they participate in or witness that could pose a serious threat to the life or health of people, the environment, or equipment. Such a termination request shall be communicated verbally with the individual(s) engaged in the activity or through the supervisor of the activity.

The person asked to terminate an activity shall do so immediately. Disagreements or differences of opinion about the need to terminate an activity shall occur only after the activity is stopped and people are removed from the hazard.

The appropriate local senior manager and the local safety professional shall be notified immediately to assist in the evaluation of the hazard. The activity can resume after the hazard has been corrected and after the appropriate local senior manager and the local safety professional have acknowledged that correction in writing. The appropriate local senior manager shall forward the written corrective action to the Head of Safety within 24 hours of the resolution. If the resolution is not made locally, then the local senior manager shall notify the Head of Safety and the Local Director to assist in possible resolutions and approvals.