Hanford's overall accident rate dropped a bit in fiscal 1999.

In fiscal 1998, the site averaged 2.6 accidents resulting in an employee losing at least one day from work for every 200,000 hours worked. Hanford posted a rate of 2.2 lost-time accidents per 200,000 hours in fiscal 1999. The 200,000-hour figure translates to roughly 100 people working one year.

In fiscal 1999, most accidents were minor, according to the site's figures. They typically ranged from minor cuts to pulled muscles to insect bites.

However, records show an increase in one major category - electrical accidents and near-accidents.

There were 11 electrical accidents and near-accidents in fiscal 1997, 13 in fiscal 1998 and 17 in fiscal 1999. Most involved low-voltage shocks without serious injury. Causes could be traced to deteriorating wiring, out-of-date documents or workers not paying attention, according to Fluor Daniel Hanford, whose corporate team employs the most Hanford workers.

Only two electric accidents in the past two years were considered serious. An electrician suffered second-degree burns in an arc flash in June 1998. And a major near-accident occurred in August 1999 when workers tried to reset a 480-volt circuit breaker.

Overall, officials are pleased with 1999 safety trends.

They credited workers and unions with helping identify hazards and planning how to deal with problems.

Employees have brought up concerns and solutions to problems ranging from metal sheets blowing off the containment dome of the 300 Area's Plutonium Recycle Test Reactor to traffic backups at Hanford's Rattlesnake Barricade entrance.

"We're continuing to see strong cooperation between management and the bargaining units," said Steve Vietenheimer, Department of Energy director of Hanford's operations oversight division.

For two years, Hanford worked on melding its contractors, subcontractors and subcontractors of subcontractors - all with different safety cultures - into a more unified, top-to-bottom safety system that is contractually enforceable.

The revised system ensures all employees have the authority to stop work if anyone sees a safety problem, said Becky Austin, Fluor's vice president for environment, safety and health.

"This puts a tremendous (safety responsibility) on the contractors," she said.

Most safety procedures and systems have improved enough that additional overhauls probably won't help much, Austin said. She said future improvements should with come with getting managers into the field more, increasing worker involvement and targeting individual projects.

Here are some statistical snapshots of safety at Hanford. Some statistics are tracked in fiscal years from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, others from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.

- Hanford's overall fiscal 1999 lost-time accident rate of 2.2 cases per 200,000 hours worked is below the rate of 3 cases per 200,000 hours for all DOE sites.

Fluor and its subcontractors posted a drop from a rate of 2.7 cases in fiscal 1998 to 2.5 cases in 1999. Bechtel's rate dropped from 4.9 to 1.7 cases. And Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's rate fell from 2.2 to 1.7 cases.

Lockheed Martin Hanford Corp. recently moved out of Fluor's team to become a prime contractor. In fiscal 1998, Lockheed posted a lost-time accident rate of 0.53 cases per 200,000 hours. That dropped to a rate of 0.45 in 1999. Lockheed's people work mostly among radioactive waste tanks, where tightly controlled access allows Lockheed to supervise safety closely, said Paul Kruger, DOE senior technical adviser for environment, safety and health at the tank farms.

- DynCorp Tri-Cities Services Inc. and B&W Hanford's facilities cleanout projects posted the highest fiscal 1999 accident rates in Fluor's team. Each has a rate of slightly less than four lost-time accidents per 200,000 hours. That was an improvement for DynCorp, but not for B&W Hanford. Fluor and DOE safety officials noted DynCorp handles lots of accident-susceptible maintenance work. Most B&W Hanford's work is also susceptible to accidents - cleaning out huge nuclear and chemical facilities.

Waste Management Hanford's rate was slightly above the Fluor team's rate of 2.5. The joint Fluor-DE&S Hanford K Basins project dropped from a rate of four cases per 200,000 hours in 1998 to a rate of 2.5 cases in 1999. The security force's rate dropped from 3.6 in 1998 to 3.2 in 1999 when B&W Protec turned it over to Protection Technology Hanford. Other subcontractor accident rates fell below the 2.5 mark.

Engineering subcontractor Numatec Hanford and B&W Hanford's operation of the Fast Flux Test Facility each reported no lost-time accidents in 1999.

- "Lock-and-tag" incidents - a major safety procedure indicator - remained roughly steady from 1998 to 1999 at 4.2 every three months.

When employees work in dangerous areas - such as places with electrical wires - safety switches or valves are locked or marked with tags so they stay in the safe positions while someone is in a danger spot. A DOE-Fluor report noted four of the last eight lock-and-tag violations occurred with subcontractor Fluor Daniel Northwest. Fluor Northwest is reviewing its lock-and-tag program.

- Radiological incidents are a tiny portion of Hanford's accidents, which traditionally have been mostly industrial.

Fluor safety statistics show its team encountered 12 incidents of radioactive contaminants outside radiological control areas, plus two radioactive spills requiring extra protective gear from Jan. 1, 1998, to Sept. 30, 1999. Most were in 1998.

Meanwhile, calendar year 1998 tallied 52 incidents of radioactive particles found on people's clothes or skin, which were routinely brushed or washed off. From Jan. 1, 1999, to Sept. 30, that tally was 25 incidents.