Safety, Security, & Quality
We are proud of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program’s (NNPP) outstanding record of over 157 million miles safely steamed since its inception in 1948.
As a prime contractor for the NNPP, BPMI has been a strategic contributor to this impressive record with a culture of excellence that is rooted in three fundamentals: safety, security, and quality. These fundamentals pervade the ways we think, work, and act because our decisions and work are part of what brings our Navy’s Sailors home safe and keeps its ships fulfilling their critical missions.
Environmental, Safety, and Health Program
BPMI expects any work performed at our facilities to be completed per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements and to be performed in a manner that considers the safety of BPMI employees, contractors, and visitors. We maintain a safety program that is administered by our Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) office, with assistance from department area safety representatives. Our ESH program is designed to stay current to federal, state, and local regulations.
Ways we support your health and safety:
• Robust and responsive facility and ESH teams
• Emergency response and evacuation plans
• Safety trainings and fairs
• Visual safety messages and reminders
• Standing desks and other ergonomic equipment
• Ongoing facilities projects that support continuous upgrades and improvements
• Safety equipment and shoes (as needed on travel)
• RADCON training and monitoring (as needed on travel)
On-site Emergency Response Team
Several BPMI employees volunteer to serve on BPMI’s Emergency Response Team (BERT). These employees are trained to assist employees that experience a medical illness or injury while at work. All BERT members are, at a minimum, First Aid and CPR/AED certified by accredited institutions. Some have also completed advanced training (e.g., paramedic, EMT).
Clean and Beautifully Maintained Facilities
Employees can spend up to one third of their lives at work, so we consider it a priority to create a physical environment where employees feel safe, motivated, proud, and comfortable. Our facility team sets high expectations for the cleanliness, maintenance, professionalism, sustainability, and comfort of our buildings. Daily, we have a facility team that is working to ensure you have a workplace that is worth bragging about.
Tour Our Locations.
BPMI expects any work performed at our facilities to be completed per Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements and to be performed in a manner that considers the safety of BPMI employees, contractors, and visitors. We maintain a safety program that is administered by our Environmental, Safety, and Health (ESH) office, with assistance from department area safety representatives. Our ESH program is designed to stay current to federal, state, and local regulations.
Ways we support your health and safety:
• Robust and responsive facility and ESH teams
• Emergency response and evacuation plans
• Safety trainings and fairs
• Visual safety messages and reminders
• Standing desks and other ergonomic equipment
• Ongoing facilities projects that support continuous upgrades and improvements
• Safety equipment and shoes (as needed on travel)
• RADCON training and monitoring (as needed on travel)
On-site Emergency Response Team
Several BPMI employees volunteer to serve on BPMI’s Emergency Response Team (BERT). These employees are trained to assist employees that experience a medical illness or injury while at work. All BERT members are, at a minimum, First Aid and CPR/AED certified by accredited institutions. Some have also completed advanced training (e.g., paramedic, EMT).
Clean and Beautifully Maintained Facilities
Employees can spend up to one third of their lives at work, so we consider it a priority to create a physical environment where employees feel safe, motivated, proud, and comfortable. Our facility team sets high expectations for the cleanliness, maintenance, professionalism, sustainability, and comfort of our buildings. Daily, we have a facility team that is working to ensure you have a workplace that is worth bragging about.
Tour Our Locations.
Federal Security Clearance Required
BPMI requires that each of its employees obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Energy security clearance. All candidates must be U.S. citizens due to these requirements. BPMI assists our future employees with this process, which doesn’t begin until after an offer of employment is accepted. The security clearance process is thorough; it can take several months to be granted a clearance. Employees begin working at BPMI after being granted a clearance. (During this waiting period, it’s common for our future employees to maintain their current job or take a temporary job until their clearance is granted.)
Secure Facilities
BPMI employees adhere to a strict ingress/egress policy, which includes biometric identification upon entry and security inspection upon exit. Due to security regulations, all articles brought into the building, including backpacks, totes, purses, and lunches are subject to inspection by our security guards. It sounds intense, and it is, but as our employees learn the importance of information protection, they quickly become accustomed to this policy, and we’re confident you can, too.
TOUR OUR LOCATIONS
Cell Phone-Free Zone
Employees are prohibited from bringing personal cell phones and other personal electronic devices into most of the areas in BPMI’s facilities. For employees hesitant to leave their cell phone in their vehicle, BPMI offers locker storage for personal electronic devices. In this day of constant connectivity, it can feel almost unnatural to separate ourselves from our phones, but this is another policy enforced for the sake of information protection. And after a day or two – literally – many employees remark about the luxury of doing work without the constant interruption of beeps, buzzes, and other notifications.
BPMI requires that each of its employees obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Energy security clearance. All candidates must be U.S. citizens due to these requirements. BPMI assists our future employees with this process, which doesn’t begin until after an offer of employment is accepted. The security clearance process is thorough; it can take several months to be granted a clearance. Employees begin working at BPMI after being granted a clearance. (During this waiting period, it’s common for our future employees to maintain their current job or take a temporary job until their clearance is granted.)
Secure Facilities
BPMI employees adhere to a strict ingress/egress policy, which includes biometric identification upon entry and security inspection upon exit. Due to security regulations, all articles brought into the building, including backpacks, totes, purses, and lunches are subject to inspection by our security guards. It sounds intense, and it is, but as our employees learn the importance of information protection, they quickly become accustomed to this policy, and we’re confident you can, too.
TOUR OUR LOCATIONS
Cell Phone-Free Zone
Employees are prohibited from bringing personal cell phones and other personal electronic devices into most of the areas in BPMI’s facilities. For employees hesitant to leave their cell phone in their vehicle, BPMI offers locker storage for personal electronic devices. In this day of constant connectivity, it can feel almost unnatural to separate ourselves from our phones, but this is another policy enforced for the sake of information protection. And after a day or two – literally – many employees remark about the luxury of doing work without the constant interruption of beeps, buzzes, and other notifications.
High Expectations for Delivering Quality Results
The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has powered submarines and aircraft carriers safely and sustainably across millions of miles since its inception in 1948. These warships are deployed around the world every hour of every day to provide a credible "forward presence," ready to respond on the scene wherever America's interests are threatened. At BPMI, we share in the Navy’s responsibility to assure the safety and reliability of the nuclear components and systems on these ships for generations to come.
Our fleet components and software operate in an unforgiving environment where American Sailors’ lives and our national security are at stake; a level of responsibility that demands first-time quality and an unparalleled level of excellence. And while not all of the work done at BPMI is directly used in a fleet application, even work performed for other external or internal uses is held to high quality standards and expectations. Ensuring quality in our work is an individual personal responsibility. Whatever we’re doing and wherever we’re working, we need to ensure that we're instilling quality and meeting the needs of our customers, both internal and external.
This demand for and expectation of quality is reflected in Excellence being one of our company values, and in our Quality Policy:
BPMI delivers products and services that support existing and evolving Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program needs and requirements. We will do this by aligning our behaviors, systems, and processes to requirements and standards; by demonstrating individual accountability, management engagement, risk-based thinking, and compliance; and by continuously improving our performance and quality system.
Every employee is personally accountable for the quality of their work, and every employee is supported on their quest for first-time quality through our strong One Team culture. BPMI sets employees up for success with our robust library of policies and procedures that have been meticulously shaped by our long history of knowledge, experience, lessons learned, and guiding principles. We have a solid training program that consists of both internally developed courses as well as accessibility to external training to enable employees to acquire and hone their skills and knowledge. In addition, there are subject matter experts as well as your management team available to assist and mentor. We also share positive lessons learned, and we look for ways to continuously improve our processes, requirements, deliverables, and performance so we continue to efficiently and effectively support the evolving NNPP needs. Our history and reputation of high-level safety, security, and quality have enabled us to be a vital contributor to the overall success of the nuclear Navy.
On the shoulders of the experts and visionaries before us, we seek to recruit a new generation of profound thinkers and inspiring collaborators that will continue to innovate and inspire the new ideas and technologies of tomorrow, while maintaining the level of excellence and quality our work demands.
The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has powered submarines and aircraft carriers safely and sustainably across millions of miles since its inception in 1948. These warships are deployed around the world every hour of every day to provide a credible "forward presence," ready to respond on the scene wherever America's interests are threatened. At BPMI, we share in the Navy’s responsibility to assure the safety and reliability of the nuclear components and systems on these ships for generations to come.
Our fleet components and software operate in an unforgiving environment where American Sailors’ lives and our national security are at stake; a level of responsibility that demands first-time quality and an unparalleled level of excellence. And while not all of the work done at BPMI is directly used in a fleet application, even work performed for other external or internal uses is held to high quality standards and expectations. Ensuring quality in our work is an individual personal responsibility. Whatever we’re doing and wherever we’re working, we need to ensure that we're instilling quality and meeting the needs of our customers, both internal and external.
This demand for and expectation of quality is reflected in Excellence being one of our company values, and in our Quality Policy:
BPMI delivers products and services that support existing and evolving Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program needs and requirements. We will do this by aligning our behaviors, systems, and processes to requirements and standards; by demonstrating individual accountability, management engagement, risk-based thinking, and compliance; and by continuously improving our performance and quality system.
Every employee is personally accountable for the quality of their work, and every employee is supported on their quest for first-time quality through our strong One Team culture. BPMI sets employees up for success with our robust library of policies and procedures that have been meticulously shaped by our long history of knowledge, experience, lessons learned, and guiding principles. We have a solid training program that consists of both internally developed courses as well as accessibility to external training to enable employees to acquire and hone their skills and knowledge. In addition, there are subject matter experts as well as your management team available to assist and mentor. We also share positive lessons learned, and we look for ways to continuously improve our processes, requirements, deliverables, and performance so we continue to efficiently and effectively support the evolving NNPP needs. Our history and reputation of high-level safety, security, and quality have enabled us to be a vital contributor to the overall success of the nuclear Navy.
On the shoulders of the experts and visionaries before us, we seek to recruit a new generation of profound thinkers and inspiring collaborators that will continue to innovate and inspire the new ideas and technologies of tomorrow, while maintaining the level of excellence and quality our work demands.
Admiral Rickover subsequently wrote his statement on what is now referred to as the Rickover Principles. He had long recognized that excellence must be the expectation in all areas from design, through ensuring quality through manufacturing and installation, to operation. Rickover also demanded that individuals accept total responsibility for their actions to maintain these standards.
Today, the Program still operates in accordance with these guiding principles, which is just one more reason why the NNPP continues to operate safely and effectively with the support of the best possible people for the job.
“Naval nuclear propulsion is an incredible but unforgiving technology and must be harnessed with a constant focus on safe operation across the cradle-to-grave responsibilities the nation entrusts to Naval Reactors.”
- Admiral William Houston, Deputy Administrator for Naval Reactors NNSA U.S. Department of Energy