WESKEM is committed to “ZERO ACCIDENT PERFORMANCE.” WESKEM believes that all unsafe acts and injuries can be prevented, and this commitment empowers all employees and its subcontractors to report unsafe situations.

All employees, including subcontractors, have the authority to suspend or stop work without fear of reprimand or disciplinary action for reporting such concerns. Also, any deviation from the defined scope of work can initiate, suspend, or stop work conditions. A root cause analysis is then documented and corrective actions are tracked in our internal corrective action tracking system. Corrective actions are resolved prior to resuming operations.

ISMS is the cornerstone of the WESKEM work control process. WESKEM has developed and proceduralized a process for incorporating the elements of ISMS into the development, assembly, and approval of Work Package(s). Using the approved Work Package(s), work crews proceed to their assigned work areas and perform waste management activities.

WESKEM has developed a computer-based Activity Hazard Analysis (AHA) process. This process systematically identifies, assess, and controls hazards associated with project work activities during work planning and execution. Depending on the scope of a project, information from field walkdowns and tabletop meetings are collected on an Activity Hazard Review (AHR) form. The AHA system then documents the potential failure and consequence scenarios for a particular hazard.

The AHA system also recommends whether the type of mitigation appears appropriate or whether additional controls should be implemented. Since the AHA application is web based, the information is captured into a single system and organized by work release in a database designed to simplify the retrieval of information.

Using the streamlined AHA method has significantly accelerated the transition from planning to execution. The enhanced configuration control creates a readily available AHA library for research and utilization along with the ability to standardize hazard analysis and control selection across four separate work sites located in Kentucky and Tennessee. The WESKEM AHR/AHA system provides an applied example of how the ISM concept evolved into a standardized field-deployed tool yielding considerable efficiency gains in project planning and resource utilization, and enhanced safety and accountability in the field.

Employee safety is preserved through detailed planning that now requires only a fraction of the time previously necessary. Available resources can then be applied to implementing appropriate engineering, administrative and personal protective equipment controls in the field.