Health and Safety: Protecting Department of Energy Workers' Health and
Safety (Testimony, 03/09/94, GAO/T-RCED-94-143).

During the past 50 years, the Energy Department's (DOE) nuclear weapons
complex produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. A by-product of
this effort was vast quantities of radioactive and other toxic
substances, ranging from plutonium and cesium to mercury and lead, all
of which pose potential health and safety threats to plant workers--more
than 600,000 over the years--and to persons who have lived in
neighboring communities. Protecting workers from exposure to radiation
and hazardous materials continues to be a problem at DOE sites, and the
cleanup program will expose workers to additional dangers. DOE needs a
vigorous health and safety program that can accurately determine and
minimize the need for improvement. Although DOE has tried to strengthen
the Office of Environment, Safety, and Health, GAO's examination of a
key program--the Health Surveillance Program--uncovered many problems.
Moreover, concerns have been raised about the quality and reliability of
DOE's data on worker exposure to hazardous substances.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-94-143
     TITLE:  Health and Safety: Protecting Department of Energy Workers' 
             Health and Safety
      DATE:  03/09/94
   SUBJECT:  Federal employees
             Occupational safety
             Data integrity
             Toxic substances
             Hazardous substances
             Facility maintenance
             Nuclear weapons plant safety
             Occupational health standards
             Occupational health/safety programs
             Health hazards
IDENTIFIER:  DOE Health Surveillance Program
             DOE Tiger Team Assessment Program
             
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