Weyland Wong wears many hats, including chair of the Lab’s Division Safety Coordinators, but most people just know him as “the safety guy.” Safety, he says, is something you have a feeling for, and it’s something anyone can develop. To get that “feeling,” Wong says you can train yourself to become more aware and risk-conscious. Now Wong is always on the lookout for risks. Going out for a walk with a co-worker one day, for example, they noticed screws in the middle of the road, so they picked them up to prevent someone else from running over them. At a recent lunch, sitting in a lobby area with some colleagues, he looked out the window to see a worker standing in the road painting handrails, and shifting his body every time a car went by. “I went outside and said what are you doing to protect yourself?” Wong recalls. The worker replied: “I’m paying attention.” That wasn’t good enough for Wong, who asked the painter to put out his safety cones. “Look out for your fellow man or woman,” he says. Share how you implement safety in your work area, send your stories to [email protected].
Go to OurSafety for more on the Lab's safety efforts.
Employees can learn more about the issues affecting Berkeley Lab during a State-of-the-Lab address presented by Interim Director Paul Alivisatos on Thursday at 9 a.m. The talk will take place in the Building 66 Auditorium, however, due to limited space, it will be webcast so staff can watch on their computers. There will be a live feed to Perseverance Hall (54-0130) and video conference to 50B-4205, 90-3122, 84-0318, and JGI-149C. Alivisatos will take questions after his presentation, and those watching remotely can e-mail inquiries to [email protected] (put "SOTL" in subject line).
In The News: Energy Secretary Chu Opinion Piece on Oil Dependency [Newsweek] It's no accident that we've become dependent on oil, which is one of the highest energy-density fuels found in nature. In fact, long before humans turned to oil for transportation, migrating birds were using a similar form of energy — stored oil in the form of body fat — to journey thousands of miles. Strictly from a physicist's perspective, burning oil for fuel can be understood. But from any other perspective, our dependency on oil is dangerous and shortsighted. More>
[San Francisco Chronicle] The search for biologically derived transportation fuels has exploded into a technological drag race among Bay Area researchers. Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville are designing a synthetic catalyst to break down energy crops into sugars to make new, cleaner liquid fuels for today's cars and jet aircraft engines. Oil companies have also begun to invest in biofuels research and development. The Energy Biosciences Institute (of which Berkeley Lab is a partner) was financed by a grant from BP. More>
David McCallen has joined Berkeley Lab to coordinate the Lab’s physics, engineering, and computational resources on nuclear energy research, after three decades of research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory culminating with studies of the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear nonproliferation. His first tasks are to lead the Earth Sciences Division’s infrastructure protection program and to develop programs to analyze nuclear power plant safety for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. More>
Employees are invited to bring a youngster, be it a family member, relative, or friend, to the Lab for Daughters and Sons to Work Day (DSTW) on Thursday, April 23. The event includes hands-on experiments, a career fair, lunch and an ice cream social, among other activities. DSTW is open to children ages 9-16 and cost is $25 per child. Go here for additional information, including registration and volunteer opportunities.
Construction: Concrete Pour Closes H1 Parking Lot Next to Building 50 TomorrowAs part of the seismic upgrade work on Building 50, an extensive concrete pour will take place tomorrow. To accommodate this work, the H1 parking lot (located in front of Building 50's main entrance) will be closed. The concrete trucks will be traveling at slow speeds (particularly uphill) as they enter and exit the Lab, so drivers behind them should not attempt to pass and should follow flagger directions. Pedestrians in the area must use appropriate sidewalks, crosswalks and pathways.
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