Page History

Title:

Occurrence Reporting

Publication date:

114/1015/20172022

Effective date:

54/1115/2012

2022

Title:

Occurrence Reporting

Publication date:

114/1015/20172022

Effective date:

54/1115/20122022

Role

Responsibility

Employees, Affiliates, and Subcontractors

Report unsafe or abnormal events and conditions (hereafter referred to as "occurrences") in a timely manner, according to Berkeley Lab policy and the applicable division's policies and procedures

Supervisors and Activity Leads

Ensure that employees understand workplace health and safety reporting responsibilities. When a supervisor or activity lead learns of an occurrence, he or she must ensure appropriate authorities are notified, including the division safety coordinator and the EHS Division.

Division Directors Note: A division director is sometimes referred to as a facility manager for purposes of the DOE Occurrence Reporting Program.

• Meet the requirements of DOE Order 232.2A — including categorization, notification, investigation, and reporting — for occurrences at their facilities or operations
• Provide appropriate resources to report events in a timely manner, investigate causes, and institute corrective actions to prevent recurrence
• Decide whether an occurrence is DOE reportable. When occurrence categorization is unclear, or for management concerns, EHS can assist with this determination.
• Approve final reports before EHS submits them to DOE. Division directors may assign designees from their organizations to help implement these procedures. 

Division Designees Note: Appropriate candidates for division designees include deputy division directors, division safety managers, or division safety coordinators. These individuals may be listed as points of contact for DOE-reportable occurrences within divisions (see http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/orps/pdf/divisionORPS.pdf for a list of points of contact). If no division designee is chosen, the division director is responsible for implementing these procedures.

• Must be familiar with the procedures described in this chapter
• Assist line managers and staff in meeting occurrence-reporting requirements, including communicating with EHS to ensure proper DOE notifications are completed
• Should notify EHS of an occurrence as soon as possible to get guidance through the occurrence-reporting process.

Environment/Health/Safety Division

• Oversees the occurrence-reporting process to ensure it is properly managed
• Assists divisions as needed to respond to, mitigate, categorize, and investigate occurrences, and to support division directors and their designees with DOE occurrence reporting
• Completes the required DOE notifications and submits the required DOE reports into the online DOE Occurrence Reporting database
• Reports any observed occurrence to the appropriate person within the EHS Division

Office of Institutional Assurance & Integrity

• Provides oversight for the Issues Management Program
• Maintains the Corrective Action Tracking System (CATS) and reviews Root Cause Analysis reports, Extent of Condition Review reports, Corrective Action Plans, and Effectiveness Review Reports prior to issuance and approval
• Oversees the Causal Analysis Program. The products of these programs are used, when applicable, in the preparation of Final Reports.

Term

Definition

Condition

"Any as-found state, whether or not resulting from an event, that may have adverse safety, health, quality assurance, operational, or environmental implications. A condition is usually programmatic in nature; for example, errors in analysis or calculation; anomalies associated with design or performance; or items indicating a weakness in the management process." (Definition from DOE Order 232.2A)

Event

"Something significant and real-time that happens (e.g., pipe break, valve failure, loss of power, environmental spill, earthquake, tornado, flood, injury)." (Definition from DOE Order 232.2A)

Occurrence

"Events or conditions that adversely affect, or may adversely affect, DOE (including NNSA) or contractor personnel, the public, property, the environment, or the DOE mission." (Definition from DOE Order 232.2A)

Role

Recordkeeping Requirement

Subject Matter Expert

Occurrence Reports (as of April 2012, stored online at https://www.lbl.gov/ehs/orps/reports/index.shtml)

Office of Contractor Assurance

Root Cause Analysis Reports