Hanford tank farm contractor responds to union safety demands

The Hanford tank farm contractor responded to a letter sent by a umbrella group of 15 unions that represents workers at the facility demanding safer work conditions from chemical vapors.

The Washington State River Protection Solutions says it will not agree to mandating that workers wear supplied air respirators for routine work activities in the double-shell tank farms, as Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council had suggested. WSRPS says it will continue to offer the tanks on a volunteer basis and allow workers to decide if they would like to wear one.

However, it did ask the union for approval to make nights and weekend work the standard shifts at the site’s tank farms. The union asked for the change in hopes to decrease the number of workers exposed to chemical vapors. If the change was made, Hanford says it would shift 700 workers schedules and continue the work at those times through the completion of the tank farm project.

Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council sent a letter to WSRPS in the end of June following a string of workers being checked for possible exposures to chemical vapors.

The full response letter from the WSRPS is listed here.