Architect of the Capitol: addressing staffing and training issues is important for efficient and safe West Refrigeration Plant operations

Original publisher: Washington, DC : U.S. Government Accountability Office, [2006] OCLC Number: (OCoLC)66901719 Excerpt: ... be completed. AOC also lacks assurance that CPP staff will be prepared to operate the new equipment safely since it has not yet completed the training of CPP operators, and has not developed a plan to evaluate the training. Additionally, without some form of evaluation, AOC is missing an opportunity to measure its operators ' preparedness, prior to implementing its consultant's updated staffing plan. Recommendations for Executive Action To ensure that CPP is staffed efficiently and that CPP personnel are trained to operate the modernized power plant safely, we recommend that the Architect of the Capitol • develop and implement a staffing plan for CPP that is based on the results of its most recent consultant's study and • evaluate the training provided to CPP operators and use the evaluation results in implementing the staffing plan. Agency Comments and Our Evaluation We provided a draft copy of this report to AOC for review and comment. AOC officials provided oral comments in which they generally concurred with our recommendations and offered technical clarifications and updated information concerning staffing and training efforts. Regarding CPP staffing, AOC indicated that it is continuing to review the draft staffing plan received from its consultant in December 2005 and is working to develop new position descriptions based on this plan. AOC also noted that its 1996 consultant study attributes overstaffing to a lack of system automation and suggested that it will not be possible to begin implementation of revised staffing plans until completion of the ongoing WRPE project. We note, however, that AOC's 2004 consultant report lists additional reasons for CPP overstaffing. Specifically, the 2004 report states that there are no cross responsibilities between different operation segments, and that over many years of operations, additional ...