Purpose of the Workshops

The NRC is seeking to develop a definition of safety culture (SC) and the description/traits) that will be 

used in the development of a final safety culture policy statement. The final SC policy statement will set 

forth the agency’s expectations for fostering a strong safety culture for NRC-regulated facilities, with the 

aspiration that Agreement States will also adopt/support the SC policy statement and that the common 

terminology that is developed will be implemented. The NRC will be holding a set of public workshops to 

ensure that the SC final policy statement benefits from consideration of a spectrum of views and provides 

the necessary foundation for SC to be applicable to the entire NRC regulated nuclear industry. 

Once the policy statement is approved by the NRC Commission, the staff would review its programs and 

processes for the oversight of licensees and certificate holders with respect to expectations outlined in the 

policy statement to determine if any changes were needed. 

Suggested Conduct of the Workshops

One suggestion for conducting the workshops is an interactive type format between a panel and the 

audience. Panel members would be selected in advance of the first workshop to represent 

groups/stakeholders (see Federal Register Notice 74 FR 66387) 

The workshop would be structured in the following manner: 

• Panel members review relevant safety culture literature (provided in advance of workshop) 

• Panel members bring their proposed ideas for a safety culture definition and description/traits to 

the workshop 

• Existing safety culture definitions and proposed safety culture ideas (if submitted in advance) are 

projected onto a screen in the room to review and reflect on as a group for consideration to begin 

the dialogue 

• Panel members break out into sub groups to hone in on their industry specific issues revolving 

around safety culture (for example reactor community and materials community subgroups) 

• Panel members reconviene as one group to review the results from the breakouts and using 

various methods, such as “mind mapping,” will begin to develop a comment safety culture 

definition that can be held by all regulated licensees 

• Solicit audience comment on definitions 

• Panel reaches general consensus on safety culture definition 

• Panel repeats same process to develop safety culture traits that embody safety culture definition 

 

The high-level draft agendas on the following pages try to present this approach. 
Agenda for Safety Culture (SC) Meetings with Breakout Sessions

Day 1 (8:30 AM – 5:30 PM) 

8:30 A.M. Opening Remarks (NRC/Roy Zimmerman) (10 min) 

8:40 A.M. Workshop Details (NRC/Lance Rakovan and David Solorio) (65 min) 

a. Purpose of Workshop/What is success for this workshop? (25 min) 

o Develop definition of safety culture (SC) and determine description/traits 

o Discuss relationship between definition and description/traits to SC Policy 

Statement 

o Receive comments on SC Policy Statement 

b. What will be next steps following workshop (including what is plan for implementation 

down the road)? (5 min) 

c. Agenda – How meeting is structured (worked with external stakeholders to frame 

meeting structure) (10 min) 

d. Workshop ground rules (10 min) 

e. Introductions – Name/Organization/Affiliation of Panelist/Why Participating? (15 min) 

9:45 A.M. NRC activities related to SC up to SC Policy Statement (NRC/Jose Ibarra and Molly Keefe (30 min) 

10:15 A.M. ‘What is Safety Culture” & how it affects big and small licensees (NRC/Dr. Valerie Barnes) (30 min) 

10:45 A.M. Break (15 min) 

11:00 A.M. Workshop Panelist Remarks – What does Safety Culture mean in their environment? (60 min) 

(Time will be determined based on number of speakers) 

12:00 P.M. Lunch – (reflect on morning) (75 min) 

1:15 P.M. Safety Culture Work So Far – INPO, NRC and Member of the Public safety culture definition 

(What works for your environment? – Explain what does not) (NRC/Dr. Valerie Barnes, 

INPO/Dr. Ken Koves, Public/Dave Collins) (30 min) 

1:45 P.M. Discuss Objective of Breakout Sessions – What is success? (NRC/Maria Schwartz) (15 min) 

2:00 P.M. Develop the SC common definition (3 Breakout Sessions: New Construction-Reactors and 

Power Reactors (Plaza Ballroom #3), Materials-Industrial and Fuel Cycle (Roosevelt Room), 

Materials-Medical (Plaza Ballroom #1 and #2)) (75 min) 

a. Each breakout group will begin discussions from a SC definition that will be provided 

only as a starting point 

b. Panel members will be asked to add and/or subtract words to definition (using 

projected Microsoft Word document) and explain and discuss their suggestions 

c. Goal is for NRC and panel members to arrive at a definition of SC they believe is 

common enough that they can in turn recommend be adopted by the panel as a whole 

d. Facilitator presents to breakout audience for comment 

3:15 P.M. Break (15 min) 

3:30 P.M. Breakout sessions regroup/come back together and determine SC common definition (Plaza 

Ballroom #1 and #2) (60 min) 

a. Review definitions produced from breakout sessions 

b. Panel members will be asked to add and/or subtract words to definition (using 

projected Microsoft Word document) and explain and discuss their suggestions 

c. Goal is for panel members to arrive at a single definition of SC they believe is common 

enough that they can in turn recommend be adopted by the panel as a whole 

4:30 P.M. Opportunity for comment by audience (panel seeks to understand comments) (45 min) 

5:15 P.M. Closing Remarks/Summary/Agenda for day 2 (NRC/Roy Zimmerman) (15 min) 

5:30 P.M. End of Day 1 
Day 2 (8:30 AM – 5:30 PM)

8:30 A.M. Introduction/Ground Rules (NRC/Lance Rakovan) (10 min) 

8:40 A.M. Recap of Day 1 (NRC/David Solorio) (10 min) 

8:50 A.M. Opportunity for comment by audience (30 min) 

9:20 A.M. Resume If Necessary – Continue with development of the SC common definition (3 

Breakout Sessions: New Construction-Reactors and Power Reactors (Plaza Ballroom #3), 

Materials-Industrial and Fuel Cycle (Roosevelt Room), Materials-Medical (Plaza Ballroom 

#1 and #2)) (70 min) 

a. Review definitions against audience comments 

b. Panel members will be asked to add and/or subtract words to definition (using 

projected Microsoft Word document) and explain and discuss their suggestions 

c. Goal is for panel members to arrive at a single definition of SC they believe is common 

enough that they can in turn recommend be adopted by the panel as a whole 

d. Facilitator presents to breakout audience for comment 

10:30 A.M. Break (15 min) 

10:45 A.M. Breakout sessions regroup/come back together and determine SC common definition (Plaza 

Ballroom #1 and #2) (60 min) 

a. Review definitions produced from breakout sessions 

b. Panel members will be asked to add and/or subtract words to definition (using projected 

Microsoft Word document) and explain and discuss their suggestions 

c. Goal is for panel members to arrive at a single definition of SC they believe is common 

enough that they can in turn recommend be adopted by the panel as a whole 

d. Facilitator presents to audience for comment 

11:45 P.M. Lunch – (reflect on morning) (75 min) 

1:00 P.M. NRC Remarks and Questions (NRC/DEDMRT Marty Virgilio) (30 min)

1:30 P.M. Opportunity for comment by audience (60 min) 

2:30 P.M. Break (15 min) 

2:45 P.M. Breakout sessions to determine SC description/traits (3 Breakout Sessions: New 

Construction-Reactors and Power Reactors (Plaza Ballroom #3), Materials-Industrial and 

Fuel Cycle (Roosevelt Room), Materials-Medical (Plaza Ballroom #1 and #2)) (150 minutes) 

a. Panel members will be asked to write down what they see as primary traits of SC on 

individual post-it notes 

b. Facilitator will collect post-it notes and request panel members provide their reasoning 

behind a sample of the suggestions 

c. Facilitator will aid panel members in organizing the input into broad categories 

d. Goal is for panel members to arrive at a list of SC traits they believe should be 

considered by the panel as a whole 

e. Facilitator presents to breakout audience for comments 

5:15 P.M. Closing Remarks/Summary/Takeaways/Next Steps (NRC/Roy Zimmerman) (15 min) 

5:30 P.M. End of Day 2 
Day 3 (8:30 AM – 5:30 PM) 

8:30 A.M. Introduction/Ground Rules (NRC/Lance Rakovan) (10 min) 

8:40 A.M. Recap of Day 2 (NRC/David Solorio) (10 min) 

8:50 A.M. If Necessary – Come Back Together and Determine the Description/Traits (Plaza Ballroom 

#1 and #2) (100 min) 

a. Review description/traits produced from breakout sessions 

b. May massage/revise the description/traits into a smaller number of more consistent 

format 

c. Consensus or present prepared definition 

d. Adding and subtracting words maybe both using yellow post it notes and Microsoft 

Word document to broadcast to audience (if time permits) 

10:30 A.M. Break (15 min) 

10:45 A.M. Opportunity for comment by audience (60 min) 

11:45 A.M. Lunch – (reflect on morning) (75 min) 

1:00 P.M. Continue as a group to determine the description/traits (Plaza Ballroom #1 and #2) (120 min) 

a. Review description/traits produced 

b. May massage/revise the description/traits into a smaller number of more consistent 

format 

c. Consensus or present prepared language 

d. Adding and subtracting words maybe both using yellow post it notes and Microsoft 

Word document to broadcast to audience 

3:00 P.M. Comments on Policy Statement (Address questions in FRN) (Plaza Ballroom #1 and #2) 

(NRC/Alex Sapountzis and Maria Schwartz) (120 min) 

5:00 P.M. Closing Remarks/Summary/Takeaways/Next Steps (NRC/Roy Zimmerman) (30 min) 

5:30 P.M. Workshop Conclusion Day 3