Tom Row spearheaded prep for a culture-changing ES&H audit.
Tom Row found himself as ORNL's point person for a controversial campaign in 1989, when "Tiger Teams" descended on DOE facilities with a mission to enforce regulations pertaining to environment, safety and health.
James Watkins, the secretary of Energy and retired Navy admiral who had been chief of naval operations, organized and dispatched the Tiger Teams following an FBI raid on the Rocky Flats weapons complex in search of "environmental crime." In the unpretty aftermath, Watkins called for a "culture of accountability" and organized the teams of ES&H regulatory experts to sweep the DOE facilities for violations.
ORNL Director Al Trivelpiece correctly gauged the seriousness of the effort and called on Row to coordinate ORNL's preparation for Tiger Team inspections. Row recalls his marching orders from the Lab director: "I don't want anything shut down."
Stories about early Tiger Team visits to other facilities made the rounds, with eyebrow-raising estimates of costs to put labs and production sites into compliance. Oak Ridge costs alone were put at $1 billion (likely an estimate for all three sites) to fix the deficiencies identified by the Tiger visits.
"Analytical chemistry was not my field," Row recalls, "but these people were experts in their fields. Something in a lab could look perfectly harmless, while someone versed in knowledge could recognize hazards immediately. These guys came with a rule book and they knew the rules."
The research community, including staff at ORNL, pushed back, saying the cost and disruption were eating too much into resources for research. Their complaints and petitions went nowhere with the admiral. From Watkins' point of view, the Cold War focus on weapons production had put ES&H issues on the back burner. Now the bill had come due and meeting the obligation would be felt on the research side.
"Al's guidance was to be smart, be honest," Row says. "He kept emphasizing we didn't want operations to be shut down because it would be expensive to restart them." And that was assuming shuttered facilities could be restarted at all.
Row organized a cadre from Lab organizations to conduct a series of intense preparatory audits before the teams arrived. They weren't just walk-throughs. Any observable violation was addressed. Cooperation from the organizations varied, Row says, but ultimately there was little choice.
"There was one lab with a lot of instrumentation, and much of it had not been calibrated as required," Row says. "This lab would not pass the inspection." The lab resisted, but conversations up to the associate director (now associate Laboratory director) level soon had calibration technicians on the way.
"That lab passed the Tiger Team walkthrough," Tom recalls.
Row says despite the concerns over time and cost, the attitude transitioned from stonewalling to cooperation. Documentation alone for the effort was massive. Row recalls all-nighters spent getting reports ready for submission. A large room in Bldg. 4500-South was dedicated as a publication center. (This writer was hired at ORNL in 1990 partly because the Tiger Teams had spiked demand for technical editors.)
"We realized this was something that would take time out of our lives, but we had to do it if we wanted to keep doing research at ORNL," Row says.
The Tiger Team arrived at ORNL in October 1990 and stayed for more than a month. They noted "numerous noncompliances and deficiencies," although owing to the preparations many were in the process of being corrected or quickly rectified. Some practices were praised by the team, who emphasized the creation of a consistent and verifiable compliance program.
"The challenge for [then contractor] Martin Marietta and DOE is to make this a process of a continuing pursuit of excellence," Tiger Team leader John Patterson said at the 1990 audit's close-out meeting. Tiger Team followups continued into 1992.
At the time, some questioned whether the Tiger Teams would have lasting impact on the operations of the federal facilities. Nearly three decades later, laboratories pay strict attention to ES&H details, such as how chemicals are stored and disposed of, and have institutionalized safe practices in conducting research and mission support. It would be hard to argue that the emphasis on compliance and safety that the Tiger Teams brought has not endured.
"It changed the culture," Row says.
