Frequently Asked Questions About Managing Fatigue - 10 CFR 26.207 - Waivers and Exceptions
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- Sequestering
- Q1. When a hurricane is expected to make land fall near a nuclear plant what can a licensee do to sequester necessary personnel on-site and not violate the Part 26 work hour controls.
- Waivers
- Q2. My question is about Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 26, "Fitness for Duty Programs," as it relates to waivers for security officers. Let’s say that Officer A is working a normally scheduled shift and is held over, under a waiver, to work a second normally scheduled shift. Officer B is called in to work during his normally scheduled day off—but not under a waiver. Half way into the shift, the post that required the waiver (manned by Officer A) is secured and no longer needs manning. In this scenario, who should be sent home, Officer A or Officer B?
- Q3. Please describe the process of granting and reporting waivers of the 10 CFR Part 26 work hour requirements.
Sequestering
Q1. When a hurricane is expected to make land fall near a nuclear plant what can a licensee do to sequester necessary personnel on-site and not violate the Part 26 work hour controls.
The following is an excerpt from the Enforcement Guidance Memorandum (EGM) EGM-09-008, ML092380177, dated September 24, 2009 and is meant for information only. Refer to the EGM for complete guidance.
On July 15, 2009, during a public meeting regarding the licensees' implementation status of 10 CFR Part 26 Subpart I, the industry informed the NRC that under impending hurricane conditions licensees sequester site staff up to several days in advance of the declaration of an Unusual Event. This sequestering has the potential to violate the work hour control provisions of Subpart I. Individuals are sequestered because unsafe travel conditions exist when sustained winds exceed 40 mph. This precedes the threshold for declaring an Unusual Event which is typically declared when wind speeds reach hurricane force of 74 mph. [The declaration of an Unusual Event allows a licensee to be exempt from certain work hour controls under the provisions of 10 CFR 26.207(d).] The NRC is providing guidance to allow enforcement discretion when licensees that are subjected to hurricane conditions take reasonable actions to sequester personnel before the declaration of an emergency caused by high winds, as well when the resulting hurricane damage precludes the immediate return of off-site personnel.
The NRC staff considers the exercise of enforcement discretion to be prudent because the actions to ensure enough staff are onsite is consistent with the practice of managing fatigue. This discretion is for 10 CFR 26.205(c) and (d), or any part thereof. All other fitness-for-duty requirements remain in effect. The enforcement discretion may remain in effect until sufficient non-sequestered personnel capable of meeting the minimum shift staffing requirements, in compliance with the work hour requirements specified in 10 CFR 26.205(c) and (d), return to the site. Typically, this will occur within 72 hours of the exit from the declared emergency.
The licensee must meet the following conditions:
- The licensee shall have site-specific procedural guidance that specifies the conditions necessary to sequester site personnel. The procedural guidance must contain provisions for ensuring that personnel who are not performing duties are provided an opportunity as well as accommodations for rest.
- The licensee requests an exemption.
Enforcement discretion may be granted when the following four conditions are met:
- The licensee has determined that conditions warrant a site lockdown, such that nonessential personnel will remain off-site and essential personnel will remain on-site.
- Local weather conditions will reasonably reach conditions to be hazardous to personnel safety for travel to or from the site.
- The site is located within the National Hurricane Center's forecasted Hurricane Watch Area.
- The licensee meets the conditions described in paragraphs a. and b. of the "Conditions" section of EGM-09-008.
Waivers
Q2. My question is about Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 26, "Fitness for Duty Programs," as it relates to waivers for security officers. Let’s say that Officer A is working a normally scheduled shift and is held over, under a waiver, to work a second normally scheduled shift. Officer B is called in to work during his normally scheduled day off—but not under a waiver. Half way into the shift, the post that required the waiver (manned by Officer A) is secured and no longer needs manning. In this scenario, who should be sent home, Officer A or Officer B?
Officer A should be sent home. Under 10 CFR 26.207(a)(1)(i), licensees may grant a waiver to mitigate or prevent a condition that is adverse to safety or security. Further, 10 CFR 26.207(a)(2) stipulates that licensees should grant waivers only to address circumstances that could not have been reasonably controlled. In your scenario, with the presence of Officer B, the licensee has determined that the staffing complement is sufficient, that there is no longer a condition adverse to safety or security, and that the "circumstance" is being reasonably controlled. Therefore, the licensee should send Officer A home. (08/17/2011)
Q3. Please describe the process of granting and reporting waivers of the 10 CFR Part 26 work hour requirements.
Granting a waiver under Subpart I, "Managing Fatigue," of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 26, "Fitness for Duty Programs," involves a process that, once completed, allows individuals who are subject to the Subpart I work hour controls to not meet one of the work hour requirements. For a Subpart I work hour requirement to be waived, the following four conditions must be met:
- An operations shift manager, a security shift manager, or a site senior-level manager with requisite signature authority determines that a waiver is necessary, in accordance with the criteria in 10 CFR 26.207(a)(1)(i).
- A supervisor assesses an individual within 4 hours before exceeding the limit for which the waiver will be granted, in accordance with the criteria in 10 CFR 26.207(a)(1)(ii).
- The assessment must indicate that the individual being assessed is not fatigued, in accordance with 10 CFR 26.205(a)(1)(ii). (If the assessment indicates that the individual being assessed will likely become fatigued during the time covered by the waiver, then no waiver is granted, or controls and conditions are established under which the individual is allowed to work.)
- The individual performs all or part of the work scope that was identified by the shift manager, the security manager or the senior level manager, under the waiver.
Multiple work hour requirements may be waived for an individual to perform covered work during any single work period. One Waiver Form may be used to document the waiving of one or more work hour requirement(s) for any single work period or for multiple work periods. For reporting purposes, each work hour requirement that is waived in a work period constitutes one waiver, in accordance with 10 CFR 26.203(e)(1).
Example 1. A circumstance arises such that a piece of equipment (that a risk-informed evaluation process has determined to be significant to the public health and safety) malfunctions. An individual who normally works 10-hour shifts has unique skills that are needed to repair the equipment. He or she will be held over after the end of his or her normal 10-hour shift to finish the repair. It is expected that the performance of these duties will exceed the requirement to work no more than 16 hours in a 24-hour period. The shift manager determines that a waiver is necessary to mitigate a condition adverse to safety. The extended work period does not start until the work hour requirement is exceeded (i.e., more than 16 hours). The supervisor assessment is performed not more than 4 hours (i.e., hour 12) before the point in time when the requirement will be exceeded (i.e., hour 16:01). The individual performs work under the waiver. One waiver is reported.
Example 2. A circumstance arises such that a piece of equipment (that a risk-informed evaluation process has determined to be significant to the public health and safety) malfunctions, The repair of the equipment will span more than 1 day. It is determined that a four-person crew will make the repair. The crew members will work in teams of two, and the teams will work successive 12-hour shifts until the repair is completed. It is determined that each of the crew members will exceed one or more of the 10 CFR Part 26 work hour controls; therefore, waivers will be needed to complete the repair. A shift manager determines that a waiver is necessary to mitigate a condition adverse to safety (this determination can be made only once for the job). Each individual works multiple work periods under the waiver, and each individual is assessed for fatigue not more than 4 hours before each work period. One Waiver Form is used to document the waivers granted in this entire evolution. For reporting purposes, one waiver is indicated for each individual for each work hour requirement exceeded for each of the work periods. (July 25, 2011)
Note: The information herein is provided as a public service and solely for informational purposes and is not, nor should be deemed as, an official NRC position, opinion or guidance, or "a written interpretation by the General Counsel" under 10 CFR 26.7, on any matter to which the information may relate. The opinions, representations, positions, interpretations, guidance or recommendations which may be expressed by the NRC technical staff responding to your inquiry are solely the NRC technical staff's and do not necessarily represent the same for the NRC. Accordingly, the fact that the information was obtained through the NRC technical staff will not have a precedential effect in any legal or regulatory proceeding.