News & Media
Gary Holladay
Taking Action in Working Safely
By Diana Del Mauro
ADEPS Communications
Gary Holladay of Accelerator Operations & Technology (AOTOPS) had just started the Friday night shift when the letters "DPW" turned red on a status screen in the Central Control Room of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, indicating an equipment problem.
Two neutron detectors had faulted electronically. Holladay, the operations shift supervisor who runs the beam for the half-mile long linear accelerator, jumped up to fix the problem. He drove across La Mesita Road and descended the steps to Lujan Center Experimental Room 1 (ER-1).
While plugging in a surge protector and checking connections, Holladay was unaware that his right knee, his right elbow, and his feet were brushing against a thin film of powder. On his way out, he ran his hands along the stair railings.
At that point, Holladay's task in ER-1 was complete. He could have headed straight back to his workstation, but Holladay's sound work practices are deeply ingrained.
On August 24, he stepped into the Blue Room's radiation portal monitor, adjacent to ER-1, and the beeps rang out. Over the years, Holladay had never triggered a positive reading. Promptly, and properly he reported the issue. He also instructed the other accelerator operators to stay out of ER-1. "I was more concerned about my crew than the beam at that point," he said.
Before routine radiation surveys in ER-1 were scheduled to take place, Holladay's diligence and sound safety practices alerted Los Alamos National Laboratory to the inadvertent spread of technetium-99. The substance is a source of beta radiation—low-power, fast-moving electrons that can travel through several feet of air, but are generally stopped by clothing and skin. The on-site and off-site contamination posed no danger to the public, but the event shut down the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center for a considerable amount of time as the contamination was cleaned up.
In recognition of his conscientiousness, he received a handwritten note from NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino thanking him for his "excellent work and safety practices," plaudits from Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan during a meeting in his office, and a Laboratory Spot Award.
"I felt it was very important, especially in the immediate aftermath of the event, to 'catch someone in the act of doing something right,' " said McMillan. "Had Gary not done what he did—in fact, what he always does—the contamination would have spread even further."
The Laboratory is addressing the root causes of the event. Additionally, as part of the resumption process several radiological foot and hand monitors are now installed in ER-2, to be shared by both experimental halls.
So, why did Holladay use the whole body monitor when he was in the middle of solving a problem?
It was simply part of his routine and his tendency to err on the side of caution. Flip through the log book and you'll see Holladay is one of only a few people who continued to "portal out" of ER-1 when exiting through the Blue Room, even though the requirement was lifted years ago. This sense of caution was instilled in Holladay in part by (now retired) crew chief Chuck Burns, who encouraged Holladay to self-monitor before heading back to his workstation.
"I'm religious about it," Holladay said. "I look forward to the future, and I don't want to make a mess anywhere." Besides, he noted, the time it takes to prevent a mess is less than the time it takes to clean up one.
