To achieve our safety goals and continuous improvement or sustained excellence in the quality of all environment, health, and safety efforts, the Berkeley Lab has adopted the following ISM principles, which are reflected in the detailed policies and procedures of the Laboratory. All staff are to incorporate these principles into the management of their work activities. While these principles apply to all work, the exact implementation is flexible and can be tailored to the complexity of the work and the severity of the hazards and environmental risks.

• Line Management Responsibility for Environment, Health, and Safety. Line management is responsible for the protection of the public, the workers, and the environ- ment. More specifically, all employees, contractors, and visitors who function as managers or represent management are responsible for integrating EH&S into work and for ensuring active communication up and down the management line and with the workforce.
  
  
• Clear Roles and Responsibilities. Clear and unambiguous lines of authority and responsibility for ensuring EH&S are established and maintained at all organizational levels within the Laboratory, and for work performed by its contractors. At the Berkeley Lab, this principle is manifested in contract language, position descriptions, and work authorization documents.
  
  
• Competence Commensurate with Responsibilities. All personnel must possess the experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to discharge their responsibilities. Competence includes training, experience, and fitness for duty.
  
  
• Balanced Priorities. Resources (financial and human) are effectively allocated by LBNL staff to address EH&S, programmatic, and operational considerations. Protecting the public, workers, and the environment is a priority whenever activities are planned and performed.
  
  
• Identification of EH&S Standards and Requirements. Before work is performed, the associated hazards are evaluated and an appropriate set of standards and requirements is known by employees, contractors, and visitors. These standards and requirements, if properly implemented, provide adequate assurance that the public, workers, and the environment are protected from adverse consequences. At the Berkeley Lab, applicable standards and requirements are developed using the Work Smart Standards protocol. The appropriateness of the current standards set will be established at least annually.
  
  
• Hazard Controls Tailored to Work Being Performed. Administrative and engineering controls must exist to prevent and mitigate hazards. They are tailored to the work and associated hazards being performed. The Berkeley Lab recognizes that tailoring requires judgment to be exercised at the appropriate decision level.
  
  
• Operations Authorization. The conditions and requirements to be satisfied for operations to be initiated and conducted are clearly established and agreed upon.

These guiding principles are implemented through the following core EH&S functions, which must become a part of every aspect of employee, contractor, and visitor work at the Laboratory:

• Work Planning. Clear definition of the tasks that are to be accomplished as part of any given activity.
  
  
• Hazard and Risk Analysis. Analysis and determination of the hazards and risks associated with any activity; in particular, risks to employees, the public, and the environment.
  
  
• Establishment of Controls. Controls that are sufficient to reduce the risks associated with any activity to acceptable levels. Acceptable levels are determined by responsible line management, but are always in conformance with all applicable laws and Work Smart Standards.
  
  
• Work Performance. Conduct of the tasks to accomplish the activity in accordance with the established controls.
  
  
• Feedback and Improvement. Implementation of a continuous improvement cycle for the activity, including incorporation of employee suggestions, lessons learned, and employee and community outreach, as appropriate.

These core EH&S functions apply at all levels of the Laboratory – at the institutional level, the division or department level, and at the level of individual projects or work activities.

The guiding principles and core EH&S functions are closely related. Each level of management at the Laboratory will be evaluated by determining (1) if each of the core EH&S functions is implemented at every level, and (2) by evaluating how well each of the core EH&S functions is informed by the guiding principles. Contractor and visitor performance is factored into this evaluation.