Spallation Laborers Pass 3M Hour Milestone

Continuing a four-year trend, workers and contractors in May celebrated three million hours of no lost time due to injury on the construction of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The $1.4 billion project is 90 percent complete but still employs around 100 Laborers. Overall, the bulk of the workforce has come from LIUNA local union 818. The general contractor is Knight/Jacobs. Blaine Construction is the primary sub, responsible for most of the large-scale construction and concrete work.

In comments to LHSFNA Senior Safety and Health Specialist Walter Jones who visited the site for the May 12 celebration, the project's Safety Manager David Fuller attributed the success to two things: one, the pace of the work allowed workers to meet safety and productivity goals simultaneously and, two, he had never encountered a trained workforce like the one the Laborers provide.

[Steve Clark]