Fermilab Today

	Monday, July 28, 2014

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Have a safe day!

Monday, July 28

PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS SEMINARS WILL RESUME IN THE FALL

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II

Tuesday, July 29

Noon
Undergraduate Lecture Series (NOTE LOCATION) - Curia II
Speaker: Amitoj Singh, Fermilab
Title: Computing @ Fermilab

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR TECHNOLOGY AND PHYSICS SEMINAR THIS WEEK

Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

Ongoing and upcoming conferences at Fermilab

Weather

Mostly sunny
72°/55°

Extended forecast
Weather at Fermilab

Current Flag Status

Flags at full staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, July 28

- Breakfast: Oatmeal raisin pancakes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Fermi burger
- Roasted pork loin with orange mustard glaze
- Chicken vindaloo
- Classic club sandwich
- Buffalo chicken salad
- Chicken and sausage gumbo
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, July 30
Lunch
- Honey ginger grilled salmon
- Coconut rice
- Roasted broccoli
- Tropical cake

Friday, Aug. 1
Dinner
Menu unavailable

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

Michele McCusker-Whiting earns 2013 Industrial Hygiene Award for new databases

Industrial Hygiene Subcommittee Chair David Baird, left, and Accelerator Division Head Sergei Nagaitsev, right, present Michele McCusker-Whiting with the 2013 Industrial Hygiene Award. Photo: Reidar Hahn

Every day, Fermilab employees do what they can to smooth out the rough edges of laboratory life. They replace aging equipment, establish new safety protocols or clarify communication channels to improve the well-being of the lab's workforce. They also track unwanted incidents so we can all learn from them and better our work environment.

Accelerator Division's Michele McCusker-Whiting has made these processes easier for everyone at Fermilab. She has created two online databases, accessible to anyone working at the laboratory, that capture unwanted incidents and hazards. The databases, to which lab staff may subscribe, allow people to easily report and view incidents labwide.

For this work, which has simplified the human performance improvement and hazard analysis processes at Fermilab, McCusker-Whiting has received the 2013 Industrial Hygiene Award.

"This is a wonderful surprise, and I am humbled by the recognition," she said. "I'm glad I had a chance to create something that's useful to everyone at the lab."

Human performance improvement (HPI) is Fermilab's approach to reviewing and mitigating accidents and near misses. McCusker-Whiting created the labwide repository of incidents from scratch. The HPI database is grouped by division and section and further by department. Incidents are easy to navigate, and viewers can see an incident's full details. It can also be viewed as a timeline.

McCusker-Whiting also created the lab's online hazard analysis (HA) database, which was originally developed and used by only the Mechanical Support Department.

"Michele is an excellent choice for the award. The HA and HPI databases are extremely useful and are great tools," said Technical Division's Richard Ruthe, representative in the Industrial Hygiene Subcommittee. "We incorporate industrial hygiene issues into numerous HAs in our division."

Fermilab's Industrial Hygiene Award is given annually to a Fermilab employee or group whose efforts have resulted in substantial progress to Fermilab's Industrial Hygiene Program, which is concerned with the control of occupational health hazards that arise as a result of or during work.

"Michele's talents were clearly on display, and it drives home the very important work message of acting locally but thinking globally," added Dave Baird, chair of the Industrial Hygiene Subcommittee.

View the hazard analysis database, the HPI database (KCA certificates required) and the HPI event timeline.

—Leah Hesla

Photo of the Day

Arching over Fermilab

A big rainbow threads its way through the clouds over the Village. Photo: Manbir Kaur

In the News

China plans super collider

From Nature, July 22, 2014

For decades, Europe and the United States have led the way when it comes to high-energy particle colliders. But a proposal by China that is quietly gathering momentum has raised the possibility that the country could soon position itself at the forefront of particle physics.

Scientists at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, working with international collaborators, are planning to build a 'Higgs factory' by 2028 — a 52-kilometre underground ring that would smash together electrons and positrons. Collisions of these fundamental particles would allow the Higgs boson to be studied with greater precision than at the much smaller Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Europe's particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.

Physicists say that the proposed US$3-billion machine is within technological grasp and is considered conservative in scope and cost. But China hopes that it would also be a stepping stone to a next-generation collider — a super proton–proton collider — in the same tunnel.

Tip of the Week: Sustainability

Fermilab pilots composting program

Aaron Carrillo of Southern Foods Management throws a full compostable bag into a designated bin. The green compostable bags are made from plant products such as corn. Only bags specifically certified as compostable are accepted at compost facilities. Photo: Katie Kosirog, ESH&Q

Some of you may have noticed the sign in the Wilson Hall east parking lot that says, "Food Waste Compost Collection Area." Since May, Southern Foods, Fermilab's food service contractor, has helped Fermilab minimize waste by participating in Fermilab's compost pilot program, thus diverting compostable waste from landfills. Between May 5 and July 18, Southern Foods has collected more than 4,200 pounds of compostable waste. Each kitchen workstation has a 5-gallon bucket lined with compostable garbage bags. All 14 of their employees have been trained on what is allowed in the compost bin, and posters in the work areas display acceptable compostable material.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food waste makes up the largest percentage of waste that ends up in a landfill, about 35 million tons annually. When food waste is composted, it has many environmental benefits in addition to those associated with less waste in a landfill. When food waste goes into a landfill, all the nutrients it took to grow that food are lost. Composting can help bring some of the nutrients back into the cycle of growing food. It is also very beneficial for the soil, reducing the need for pesticides and fertilizers as well as increasing drought resistance and decreasing storm water pollution by helping soils hold water.

When the company Advanced Disposal picks up Fermilab's kitchen food waste, they take it to a compost facility in LaSalle County that has the proper equipment and land footprint to process the waste into compost. Many facilities are now able to compost more than just coffee grounds and fruit and vegetable scraps. With the proper equipment, meat trimmings, paper towels, eggshells and even milk cartons can be placed in the kitchen's compost bins.

Although most suburbanite homeowners compost if they separate grass clippings and other yard waste at the curb, food scrap composting is a relatively new concept for nearby businesses and residents. Towns such as Oak Park, Gurnee and Grayslake have launched successful pilot programs recently, and some schools and restaurants have joined in the effort.

The ultimate goal is to not waste any food, but as the cafeteria serves 850 customers a day, having some food scraps is unavoidable. Separating compostables from regular trash compels us to take a closer look on how much food we stock up on. The average household throws away about 20 pounds of food per week. If you are interested in composting at home, take a look at the EPA guidance. John Hatfield, manager of Southern Foods, says the program has been running well in their kitchen. He says, "In the beginning we struggled a bit because it was something new for us, but in a short time it has become a normal part of operations. We are happy to help the environment."

Fermilab and the cafeteria hope to make this pilot program a permanent part of operations to further reduce its landfill waste and carbon footprint.

—Katie Kosirog

Milestone