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Industry | Manufacturing |
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Founded | 1974 |
Headquarters | ![]() |
Products | industrial safety supplies |
Website | http://www.lancsindustries.com |
Lancs Industries is a manufacturer of protective clothing, containments, gloveboxes, enclosures, lead shielding, and other supplies used for reducing risk and increasing safety of workers in potentially hazardous environments. [1]
Founded in 1974, [2] Lancs Industries is headquartered, and has a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) facility in Kirkland, WA, with a field office in Warwick, RI, and provides products for both public and private entities such as, Naval shipyards, nuclear power plants, and Department of Energy lab facilities.
Lancs Industries was founded by Graham Hollingsworth. As a native of Lancashire, England, Hollingsworth was an employee of British Aircraft Corporation working as an aeronautical engineer who came to the United States in 1966 for an engineering exchange program with Boeing Aircraft. Choosing to remain in the U.S. as a Boeing employee after the exchange period ended, he worked on the Supersonic Transport (SST) program in the Seattle metropolitan area. This program was terminated and Hollingsworth ultimately left Boeing in 1974.
Hollingsworth launched Lancs Industries in 1974, as a sign-making company serving the industrial safety market. Projects for Mare Island Naval Shipyard eventually led to the company's expansion into fabricating plastic barriers, containments, and protective gear using radio-frequency (RF) heat sealing technology. As the U.S. Nuclear Navy expanded throughout the 1970s, the need increased for radiological safety items used in construction and maintenance of nuclear-powered ships at Naval shipyards. Lancs worked closely with the Reactor Plant Services (RPS) group at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, designing, fabricating, and supplying these items.
The use of lead wool radiation shielding and heat-sealed plastics for contamination control in commercial nuclear power plants took a dramatic upswing in 1979 as a result of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station. This led to the hiring of Ron Therrien from Electric Boat's RPS in 1983 to address the expanded market for Lancs products in all electrical utility-owned nuclear plants located in North America.
As the Cold War progressed toward the eventual termination of the nuclear weapons program in 1989, the Nuclear Weapons Production Complex operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, consisting of many National laboratories and production facilities, was quickly transformed into a series of radiological decommissioning, decontamination, and remediation projects. These activities ignited a large and continuing demand for supplies and equipment needed to protect human workers from ionizing radiation and prevent the spread of radioactive contamination when dealing with radioactive waste operations. Personal protective equipment and clothing, containment tents, glovebags, drum liners, covers, flexible sleeving and sheeting, all became instrumental in performing this hazardous waste cleanup work.
By the year 2001, Lancs had grown in size and reputation to the point that Hollingsworth decided to sell the company. The company was acquired in early 2002 by Tim Wiest, a former Naval officer in the nuclear power program and telecom industry executive. Under his direction, the company has continued to expand and address a wider set of customer needs with increased responsiveness and sophistication.
Buoyed by an increase in spending in the nuclear power field, Lancs Industries posted record revenue for the company in 2009. [3] Company owner Tim Wiest expected a strong year in 2010 due to stimulus money and increased demand. "It's good to see the optimism for this industry," He said. [3]
Lancs Industries is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Association. [4]
![]() | This section may contain material not related to the topic of the article .(September 2010) |
Many industries involve activities that expose workers to potential hazards. Physical hazards such as falling or fire, biological hazards such as infectious pathogens or disease, and material hazards such as chemicals or toxic carcinogens, must all be addressed by taking appropriate measures to reduce the risk of harm or injury to workers. The guiding principle is to keep this risk "as low as reasonably achievable" (ALARA).
The ALARA principle is applied throughout the nuclear industry and environments involving radiological exposure, often driven by the field of Health Physics and common sense. While personnel exposure and dose limits are often explicitly set by a given institution, the methods of controlling exposure to minimize dose within those limits are left to the ALARA practices, which can be quite different from place to place. The Health Physics professionals often have Lancs Industries manufacture items according to the specific ALARA approach for their institution.
The practice of ALARA can generally be considered a cost-benefit tradeoff. The selection of particular methods to control exposure involves optimizing the marginal cost of a given approach with the resulting benefit or reduction in overall dose. If the additional protection provided by an item reduces exposure risk by an amount that is judged to be beneficial compared to the additional cost of materials or labor required for that approach, then it will be reasonable to employ that approach. This is the essence of ALARA.
Loose radioactive particles can be found throughout a radiological work facility. Barriers made of flexible materials help to confine the spread of this contamination and to protect workers from exposure. Barriers can be in the form of different configurations such as, sleeving, glovebags, containment tents, catch containments, bags, covers and protective clothing.
Sleeving provided on rolls is often cut to length and used to cover radioactive material to prevent the spread of contamination during handling. Typically made of PVC or Polyurethane film formed into a flexible tube, sleeving can cover pipes, hoses, and cables to provide a protective layer. To handle odd-sized objects, adequately sized sleeving is opened so an object can be inserted into the tube which is then twisted to enclose the item at both ends. Tape can be used to secure the twists in place, and then cut free for handling. This is commonly referred to as "horsetailing".
Glovebags help to confine contamination at the source, limiting the spread to the space inside the glovebag. Glovebag chambers can be fabricated in limitless shapes and sizes, forming a barrier to enclose a workspace. With attached glovesleeves that allow access for handling, transfer ports to move objects into and out of the chamber, and service sleeves for tooling and ventilation, glovebags can be made to accommodate a wide range of operations on hazardous material without directly touching the items.
Background radiation is a measure of the level of ionizing radiation present in the environment at a particular location which is not due to deliberate introduction of radiation sources.
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes. The amount and spread of fallout is a product of the size of the weapon and the altitude at which it is detonated. Fallout may get entrained with the products of a pyrocumulus cloud and fall as black rain. This radioactive dust, usually consisting of fission products mixed with bystanding atoms that are neutron-activated by exposure, is a form of radioactive contamination.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemical, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start within an hour of exposure, and can last for several months. Early symptoms are usually nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. In the following hours or weeks, initial symptoms may appear to improve, before the development of additional symptoms, after which either recovery or death follow.
Ionizing radiation (US) (or ionising radiation [UK]), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel up to 99% of the speed of light, and the electromagnetic waves are on the high-energy portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Exposure can be from a source of radiation external to the human body or due to internal irradiation caused by the ingestion of radioactive contamination.
A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include lethal effects to individuals, large radioactivity release to the environment, or a reactor core melt. The prime example of a "major nuclear accident" is one in which a reactor core is damaged and significant amounts of radioactive isotopes are released, such as in the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
Health physics, also referred to as the science of radiation protection, is the profession devoted to protecting people and their environment from potential radiation hazards, while making it possible to enjoy the beneficial uses of radiation. Health physicists normally require a four-year bachelor’s degree and qualifying experience that demonstrates a professional knowledge of the theory and application of radiation protection principles and closely related sciences. Health physicists principally work at facilities where radionuclides or other sources of ionizing radiation are used or produced; these include research, industry, education, medical facilities, nuclear power, military, environmental protection, enforcement of government regulations, and decontamination and decommissioning—the combination of education and experience for health physicists depends on the specific field in which the health physicist is engaged.
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases, where their presence is unintended or undesirable.
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), formerly known as Rocketdyne, is a complex of industrial research and development facilities located on a 2,668-acre (1,080 ha) portion of Southern California in an unincorporated area of Ventura County in the Simi Hills between Simi Valley and Los Angeles. The site is located approximately 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Hollywood and approximately 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Sage Ranch Park is adjacent on part of the northern boundary and the community of Bell Canyon is along the entire southern boundary.
Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotopic and mononuclidic cobalt isotope 59
Co
. Measurable quantities are also produced as a by-product of typical nuclear power plant operation and may be detected externally when leaks occur. In the latter case the incidentally produced 60
Co
is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor's steel structures via the creation of its 59
Co
precursor. The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of 58
Fe
. 60
Co
undergoes beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60. The activated cobalt nucleus emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall equation of the nuclear reaction is: 59
27Co
+ n → 60
27Co
→ 60
28Ni
+ e− + 2 γ
An NBC suit, also called a chem suit, or chemical suit is a type of military personal protective equipment. NBC suits are designed to provide protection against direct contact with and contamination by radioactive, biological, or chemical substances, and provide protection from contamination with radioactive materials and all types of radiation. They are generally designed to be worn for extended periods to allow the wearer to fight while under threat of or under actual nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. The civilian equivalent is the hazmat suit. The term NBC has been replaced by CBRN, with the addition of the new threat of radiological weapons.
Radioactive scrap metal is created when radioactive material enters the metal recycling process and contaminates scrap metal.
Hot zone, also written as hot-zone or hotzone, refers to an area or region that is significantly affected by environmental hazards or risks. It may refer to a location where there is high pollution, contamination, or a concentration of hazardous substances or activities.
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the environment, such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon. Produced water discharges and spills are a good example of entering NORMs into the surrounding environment.
Nuclear labor issues exist within the international nuclear power industry and the nuclear weapons production sector worldwide, impacting upon the lives and health of laborers, itinerant workers and their families.
Engineering controls are strategies designed to protect workers from hazardous conditions by placing a barrier between the worker and the hazard or by removing a hazardous substance through air ventilation. Engineering controls involve a physical change to the workplace itself, rather than relying on workers' behavior or requiring workers to wear protective clothing.
Hazmat diving is underwater diving in a known hazardous materials environment. The environment may be contaminated by hazardous materials, the diving medium may be inherently a hazardous material, or the environment in which the diving medium is situated may include hazardous materials with a significant risk of exposure to these materials to members of the diving team. Special precautions, equipment and procedures are associated with hazmat diving so that the risk can be reduced to an acceptable level.
Engineering controls for nanomaterials are a set of hazard control methods and equipment for workers who interact with nanomaterials. Engineering controls are physical changes to the workplace that isolate workers from hazards, and are considered the most important set of methods for controlling the health and safety hazards of nanomaterials after systems and facilities have been designed.