America’s Safest Companies 2016: South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company

Four core principles are used to advocate the importance of nuclear, personal and environmental safety at South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company: Take-a-Minute, Verification, Procedure Behaviors and Questioning Attitude. All of these components contain key elements of the company's safety program.

“Our goal of creating value for our owners, employees and communities by generating safe, reliable and affordable electricity for the long term cannot happen if safety is not our top priority," said Christopher Waldrum, safety specialist.

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Employees are trained to assess the risk of an activity before proceeding, identify and resolve issues in a timely manner and assume responsibility for his/her own safety and others while fostering an environment while questioning is valued.

A corrective action program (CAP) is available to all employees as an effort to identify unsafe acts or conditions on the job, document them and mitigate or correct the action or condition. Once something is reported, the worker is notified about the steps taken to correct the issue.

Key performance indicators are identified with the CAP process, and trends in behaviors or conditions are noted and evaluated.

“Everyone will go home safely," Waldrum said. “We do this by exhibiting the following traits: safety, integrity, teamwork and excellence."

South Texas Project's safety action team meets monthly to discuss safety issue in the plant. All crafts/areas are represented in the team as well as a management representative. A free flow of information allows representatives to go back to their respective areas and keep communications open throughout the company.

Employees also are able to recognize one another or their supervisors if a safe work practice is exhibited.

Above all, time management and the commitment to safety comes from the top down. South Texas Project's president and CEO's saying shows management's dedication; “Do it safety the first time, whether it takes two minutes, two hours or two days."