For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Caldwell, UCOR
Christopher.Caldwell@orcc.doe.gov
DOE and VPPPA honor UCOR’s safety record
Oak Ridge, Tenn., October 5, 2023 –The Department of Energy (DOE) has again awarded United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) with the Department’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star of Excellence. The award recognizes UCOR’s success in maintaining injury and illness rates that are more than 75% lower than the industry average.
UCOR has developed one of the strongest safety cultures across the DOE complex. The company is committed to sending workers home safely every day. The Star of Excellence, which was presented at the Safety+ Symposium in Orlando, underscores UCOR’s success in achieving that goal.
Also, during the Symposium, the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA) presented UCOR with the company’s fourth consecutive Safety Innovation Award. This year’s innovation award recognizes the company’s unique Mission Ready Program©, a fitness-for-duty program that addresses the physical and emotional needs of its workforce. The program challenges employees to proactively take ownership of personal decisions that could either enhance or impede their ability to safely perform. Being “mission ready” is critical at UCOR due to the high hazard work involved in the company’s environmental cleanup work for the Department of Energy.
“Through the Mission Ready Program, our workers demonstrate a strong commitment to recognize and act on things that might reduce their fitness for duty,” said UCOR’s Chief Safety and Security Officer Clint Wolfley. “We instituted the program just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and it has grown and evolved with the needs of our workforce.”
In addition to Mission Ready, the company has a wide array of worker- and company-led efforts, including local safety improvement teams and a vehicle safety awareness program. The company has an onsite health clinic and has recently launched an employee mental health program.
UCOR, an Amentum-led partnership with Jacobs and Honeywell, is the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s lead environmental cleanup contractor. The company’s 2,200+ workers are dedicated to safely reducing environmental risk on the Oak Ridge Reservation while helping DOE’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration continue their important missions. Learn more about the company at UCOR.com.
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UCOR NR 2023-15
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