[DOE LETTERHEAD]

 

July 17, 2003

 

The Honorable John T. Conway

Chairman

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700

Washington, D.C. 20004-2901

 

Dear Mr. Chairman:

 

The purpose of this letter is to report completion of the Department of Energy Quality Assurance Improvement Plan deliverable 1.3.3, which required Environmental Management (EM) to establish oversight schedules, performance measures, and quarterly reports.  I have enclosed the EM Headquarters oversight schedule, which includes an assessment of the performance and effectiveness of Field Elements oversight assessment schedules.  Oversight assessment is a key component of quality assurance associated with line management responsibility in assuring that our mission is performed in a safe and high quality manner, which accelerates risk based cleanup and closure activities.

 

Additionally, EM has established performance measures used to report quarterly operational and safety performance to the Under Secretary.  The report contains the following measures:  1) Total Recordable Cases and Lost Workday Cases rate (average quarterly and yearly); 2) Annual Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Cost Index by Prime contractor; 3) Annual OSHA Cost Index normalized by lowest prime contractor total work hours (every two years); 4) Annual EM Total Lost Work Days; 5) Safety Basis Performance against site schedules (quarterly); and 6) Quarterly contract performance measures.

 

I know our offices have been working to schedule a mutually convenient time for me to go over the EM Quarterly Report with you.  If you have any further questions, please call me or Ms. Sandra Johnson at (202) 586-0651.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jessie Hill Roberson

Assistant Secretary for

Environmental Management

 

Enclosure

 

cc: Paul Golan, EM-3

Mark Whitaker, DR-1