Bechtel Project Earns Energy Department's Highest Safety Award

Hanford Waste Treatment Plant Awarded "Star of Excellence" in Recognition of Safety Efforts

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Oct 28, 2016, 12:38 ET

RESTON, Va., Oct. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, the Department of Energy has awarded the Bechtel-led Waste Treatment Plant project its highest level of recognition for worker safety achievements: the Voluntary Protection Program "Star of Excellence." The award is given to contractors who achieve an injury rate at least 75 percent below the Bureau of Labor Statistics national average for its respective industry.

Take a tour inside the massive, first-of-a-kind Waste Treatment Plant, also known as the Vit Plant, under construction at the Hanford Site in Southeastern Washington State.

"Once again, our employees have exceeded expectations and have taken ownership of their safety and that of their coworkers," said Peggy McCullough, Bechtel's Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project director. "The exceptional commitment to each other's well-being is paramount in achieving the level of safety necessary at a construction site of this size."

Laureen Smith, head of Environment, Safety, and Health for Bechtel's government services business added, "Safety isn't just a requirement; it's one of Bechtel's core values. This award represents the engagement between our employees and managers to improve and maintain an effective safety culture."

Close to 3,000 workers are employed at the construction project on the Hanford Site near the Columbia River in Washington state. When completed, WTP will safely treat Cold War-era radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks. Following extensive commissioning and testing, the plant's first facility will begin operations as soon as 2022.

Bechtel is an industry leader in the environmental cleanup and restoration of former nuclear weapons production sites dating back nearly 40 years. The company has led the cleanup, remediation, and closure of nuclear waste facilities in Washington state, Idaho, New Mexico, Tennessee, Nevada, and South Carolina.

Learn more about the Waste Treatment Plant here.
VIDEO: Waste Treatment Plant Overview

About Bechtel:

Bechtel is one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies. Together with our customers, we deliver landmark projects that create long-term progress and economic growth. Since 1898, we've completed more than 25,000 extraordinary projects across 160 countries on all 7 continents. We operate through four global businesses: Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals. Our company and our culture are built on more than a century of leadership and a relentless adherence to our values, the core of which are safety, quality, ethics, and integrity. These values are what we believe, what we expect, what we deliver, and what we live. www.Bechtel.com

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