To All UCOR and Subcontractor Employees:
United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) is committed to fostering and maintaining a strong safety culture to ensure a safety conscious work environment is established and nurtured through leadership, employee/worker engagement, and organizational learning. Management at all levels appreciates the value of employees raising concerns and actively supports an atmosphere in which employees feel free to voice concerns.
The Employee Concerns Program (ECP) is designed to:
- Provide employees with an independent avenue to supplement (not replace) existing processes for expressing concerns.
- Inform employees of the appropriate forum for consideration of their concerns
- Ensure employees can communicate openly to raise issues without fearing reprisal
- Address employee concerns objectively and confidentially
UCOR will not tolerate any form of harassment, intimidation, retaliation, or discrimination when employees report concerns regarding safety, health, environment, quality, safeguards and security, fraud, waste, abuse, management practices, or other work-related issues.
Every employee has the right and responsibility to report concerns, maintain a questioning attitude, suggest improvements, and challenge management decisions with the assurance that UCOR will address them confidentially and expeditiously.
Employees are encouraged, but not required, to attempt to resolve workplace concerns with their supervisors or managers. If a concern cannot be resolved within the line organization or an employee is uncomfortable going to a supervisor, particularly if confidentiality or anonymity is desired, the employee may contact UCOR’s ECP.
Concerns may be raised with the UCOR ECP Manager, as follows:
- Office Telephone: (865) 576-1277
- Mobile Telephone (423) 667-3887
- E-Mail: vanessa.holsomback@orcc.doe.gov
- Anonymous Hotline: Toll free (855) 826-7327 or (865) 241-8267
- Email: ECPHotline@orcc.doe.gov (use an anonymous/fictitious email address outside UCOR’s firewall)
- Postal Mail: UCOR ECP, PO Box 4699, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
- Plant Mail: 701 Scarboro, Room 250
- Visit the Employee Concerns Office at 701 Scarboro Road, Room 250
- Call UCOR’s Ethics Helpline at (865) 574-4648 or (760) 402-3024
Whistleblower Protection Programs
Department of Energy (DOE) contractor employees who believe they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected activity have the right to file a complaint under:
- 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 708, DOE Contractor Employee Protection Program (DOE Whistleblower Protection Program), by contacting the DOE Employee Concerns Director
- Telephone: (202) 586-7002
- E-mail: Yissel.castanon@hg.doe.gov
- Postal Mail: Yissel Castanon, DOE Employee Concerns Director, 250 East 5th Street, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH 45202
- DOE Office of the Inspector General Hotline
- Telephone: (202) 586-4073 / Toll Free (800) 541-1625 or email ighotline@hg.doe.gov
- 29 CFR Part 24, Procedures for the Handling of Retaliation Complaints Under Federal Employee Protection Statutes, by contacting Occupational Safety and Health Administration (for retaliation/reprisal)
- Telephone: (615) 741-2793 or (800) 249-8510
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Nashville State Plan Office: 220 French Landing Drive, Nashville, TN 37243
The Differing Professional Opinion (DPO) Process, described in UCOR procedure PROC-CT-1515, is available to raise technical concerns related to the environment, safety, or health. If a concern remains unresolved after using internal avenues, employees may submit a DPO (as prescribed in the DOE DPO Order 442.2 Chg. 1, Attachment 2, pages 10 and 11) to the DOE DPO Manager, Brenda Hawks, by the following methods:
- Electronic DPO form (https://energy.gov/ehss/doe-differing-professional-opinions)
- Email to Ms. Hawks at brenda.hawks@em.doe.gov
- Mail to Brenda Hawks, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Oversight/Chief of Nuclear Safety (EM-3.11) Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585
- Call Ms. Hawks at (865) 805-0391
Your concerns and suggestions are important and taken seriously. UCOR encourages you to bring your concerns forward and to work with us toward resolution.
