Nuke Plant Guard Caught Playing Hand-Held Game

[Double_Blade]

Plant Guard Caught Playing Hand-Held Game

From Gamepolitics.com

It's the site of America's worst nuclear accident. And it's only about 90 miles from GamePolitics HQ.

The guards at Three Mile Island nuclear plant are supposed to be alert.

As reported by the Solanco News, a guard at the facility near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, failed to notice the "repeated approach" of an inspector from the state's Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP conducted its spot check between 4:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M. Friday morning.

The reason for the guard's inattention? According to a DEP report filed with the office of Gov. Ed Rendell, the unnamed guard was absorbed in an unspecified handheld video game system.

Let's just hope it wasn't the Nintendo DS version of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.

While TMI guards are permitted to use electronic devices, computers and books to help stay alert, DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty told the Solanco News that the incident with the handheld game demonstrates a need to re-evaluate what is permissible.

"The issue is not the guard's use of the video game, because current procedures don't specifically prohibit those games," McGinty said. "The real issue is that his complete absorption in the game distracted him from noticing the repeated approach of our inspector. And that shows why this procedure needs to be changed and these video games disallowed."

The DEP notified the plant operator of the guard's failure to notice the inspector. The operator then notifed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The three entities will evaluate the incident and develop policies to prevent it from happening again. DEP's unannounced security tests are conducted by its Bureau of Radiation Protection.

Opinions? Any regards on this? Well, in my opinions, guards especially security guards and Nuclear guards like this must be alert, sure you can play games, but not when you are working.

Nice article.

 

[The Monkey]

Sounds like Homer.

 

[Solaris]

Reduce shift length, increase number of staff, ban any form of distraction.

Millions of lifes are risked becuase of these reactors, the security must be paramount.

 

[Loc-Dog]

Buy him a PS2 so he can play at home.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Pathetic.

You don't see these guys playing portable gaming systems or doing much of anything beisdes focusing on their job!

 

[Sulkdodds]

To be fair, he's a perimeter guard and thus not actually responsible for the running of the reactor. It's not like it actually mattered in this case. There was no danger:

The only responsibility of officers at staging posts is to respond to frequent radio checks to confirm they are attentive and able to respond if necessary. The guard did respond properly to a radio check while the DEP official was present.

The guard was at a staging post. Resler said guards at such posts are like firefighters. They respond to emergencies. During their part of the shift at a staging post, they don't patrol, conduct surveillance, or watch monitors, he said.

The issue is: since this isn't prohibited, what if the actual technicians inside the plant got this absorbed?

Of course, it's probably not that important, since if there's ever a situation where the entire responsibility of noticing a potential accident rests on a single person then there's a few bigger problems with procedure than just letting employees play game-boys. Still, it would seem better to be safe than sorry, and ban hand-held game systems in nuclear power plants.

 

[Sparda]

Homer was his nick nameo

 

[AzzMan]

Dont see what the huge fuss about nuclear plants is. If a nuclear plant put as much radiation in the enviroment as a coal or other type, it would be shut down immediately.

 

[AzzMan]

and btw, I see cops with their laptops out playing games all the time