Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Nuclear
LLC reports
This report is issued as part of the Health and Safety Executive's commitment to make information about inspection and regulatory activities relating to the above site available to the public. It is for distribution to members of the Barrow-in-Furness Local Liaison committee (LLC) and covers activities associated with the regulation of nuclear safety at BAE SYSTEMS Marine Limited (BAESM). These reports are distributed quarterly.
Site Inspectors of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate normally attend LLC meetings and will be happy to respond to questions raised there or subsequently by members of the LLC. Any other person wishing to inquire about matters covered by this report should contact the HSE, Nuclear Directorate Information Centre on 0151-951-4103.
This report will be put onto the HSE Website at hse.gov.uk/nuclear/index.htm.
The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) Site Inspector made inspections on the following dates during the quarter:
The Deputy Chief Inspector visited site on 20-21 November 2007, and the Superintending Inspector on 19-21 November 2007, and other NII inspectors on 22-25 October 2007.
Inspections are undertaken at site as part of the process for monitoring compliance with:
This entails monitoring licensee’s actions on the site in relation to incidents, operations, maintenance, projects, modifications, safety case changes and any other matters which may affect safety. The licensees/operators are required to make and implement adequate arrangements under the conditions attached to the licence in order to ensure legal compliance. Inspections seek to judge both the adequacy of these arrangements and their implementation. In this period inspections at the Devonshire Dock Complex covered:
In general the arrangements made and implemented by BAE SYSTEMS Marine Ltd in response to safety requirements were deemed to be adequate in the areas inspected. However, where improvements were considered necessary, satisfactory commitments to address the issues were made by or are being sought from the licensee, and the site inspector will monitor progress during future visits. Where necessary, formal regulatory enforcement action will be taken to ensure that appropriate remedial measures are implemented to reasonably practicable timescales.
The NII Deputy Chief Inspector and the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator Director visited site on 20-21 November 2007 for a joint regulatory review of nuclear safety at Barrow. Compliance was broadly acceptable for contemporary activities on the site and BAE Systems continues to implement its longer-term improvement programmes covering learning from experience, safety management systems, behavioural safety and organisational change. On conclusion of the visit, the proposed 2008 regulatory strategy for the site was affirmed as being appropriately targeted and proportionate to the current and future risks on the site.
The site inspector attended the annual meeting of the BAE Systems Marine Ltd Local Liaison Committee on 28 November 2007. Unfortunately, no representatives of the local communities were present. The Chairman had therefore to declare the meeting inquorate and, after confirming that those present had no comments on the previous meeting’s minutes, he closed the meeting. BAE Systems has been asked to explore ways of encouraging the attendance of local community representatives at the next meeting.
BAE Systems notified NII that it had complied with schedule of requirements to the Improvement Notice issued during the last quarter which required the Company to introduce safe systems of work that ensure all reasonably practicable measures are taken to prevent unconnected persons remaining within designated controlled areas during radiography. NII intends to check the adequacy of the systems of work during the first quarter of 2008.
Licensees are required to have arrangements to respond to non-routine matters and events. NII inspectors judge the adequacy of the licensee’s/operators response including actions taken to implement any necessary improvements. There were no items of particular note during the reporting period.
Under Health and Safety legislation NII Site Inspectors, and other HSE Inspectors, may issue formal documents to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Under nuclear site licence conditions HSE/NII issues regulatory documents, which either permission an activity or requires some form of action to be taken; these are collectively termed Licence Instruments (LI). In addition inspectors may issue enforcement notices to secure improvements to safety.
No LI or enforcement notices were issued to the licensee during the quarter.
Nuclear Safety Directorate
Health and Safety Executive
Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS