‘Safety is a State of Mind(fulness)’
Celebrated annually in June, National Safety Month is an important opportunity to raise awareness about safety and health in the workplace. Throughout the month, Sandia Health Benefits and Employee Services and Safety organizations at the Livermore and Albuquerque campuses teamed up to host an array of speakers, activities and events.
A day in the life of Sandia — 70 years and counting
To mark the 70th anniversary of President Truman’s letter that inspired Sandia to “… exceptional service,” Lab News photographer Randy Montoya spent a full day chronicling the people and work that make the Labs hum from sun up to sundown.
Annual Sandia simulation strengthens emergency response
Scores of Labs employees in Albuquerque, joined by outside emergency response personnel, were immersed in a simulated crisis April 17 as part of the annual emergency management full-scale exercise.
Fields of gold
Jennifer Payne is a Sandia ecologist who stabilizes degraded lands. She is also one of two Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioners in New Mexico, a title held by only 150 people in the country. As an ecologist who specializes in restoration, Jennifer ensures that Sandia upholds its commitments to protect land leased from Kirtland Air Force Base and land withdrawn from the U.S. Forest Service.
Flying from the glass
Bird strikes against windows are an all-too-familiar sound. To birds, the transparent glass looks like open space, and between 500 million and 1 billion birds die each year trying to fly through closed windows. Sandia is solving this problem at one of its high-strike buildings, where ecology program staff partnered with facilities staff to place adhesives featuring a dot pattern on the building's windows.
EXERCISE: Drone attack, pipe bomb put Sandia to the test
Sandia/California’s medical staff and Protective Force were put to the test last month during a simulated attack involving a drone and a pipe bomb. The exercise also tested the emergency alert system used to notify members of the workforce.
Slithering science
As part of Sandia's ecology program, wildlife biologists set up and check herpetofaunal traps around Sandia lands to gather data on species in the area. The data, combined with other baseline monitoring, are used to to observe long-term habitat changes.
The early biologist catches the bird
Its heart beating rapidly, a wild gray flycatcher sits in the palm of a steady hand, waiting for just the right moment to make its escape. The moment lasts mere seconds, but it’s filled with emotion, from fear to connection to protection. Moments like this don’t happen for most people, but for a handful of biologists in Sandia's ecology program, they do.
Sandia LEEDs the way with New Mexico campus certification
The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the Sandia/New Mexico site a LEED v.4 for Campus Certification, the first such certification at a DOE lab. It's the largest LEED Campus Certification in the history of the program, as well as the first Version 4 certification in New Mexico.