B Reactor Health Physics Exhibit: Learning From the Past for a Safe Future

The Learning From the Past for a Safe Future panel in the Health Physics Exhibit. See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

**Main Text **

At the top left, text reads: “Before the regulations set forth by the FLSA, no requirement existed for employers to pay their employees for donning or doffing protective gear. After the creation of the FLSA, however, employers were required to pay their employees for this time.”

Text continues: “The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) requires employers under certain circumstances to pay their employees for dressing (donning) and undressing (doffing) protective clothing. Under Herbert Parker’s leadership, donning and doffing procedures were developed to protect workers from radiation exposure.

“An employee’s job dictated the level of protective dress. The typical radiological worker would wear ‘whites,’ which consisted of coveralls and a cap. Anyone working with water was required to wear an apron and boots over his whites. Work near the reactor face required gloves, coveralls, hood, mask, and a second layer of clothing.

“The deaths and injuries caused by the use of radium containing compounds and overexposure to X-rays in medical practices were fresh in everyone’s minds. Those cases, along with evolving legal protections for workers, provided a backdrop for the development of safety programs for Manhattan Project atomic energy workers.”

Text reads: “The donning and doffing procedures listed specific step by step directions that workers followed each time they prepared to perform a job and when it was finished. When doffing protective clothing, employees dropped their protective clothing into specific laundry bins for cleaning.”

**Exhibit Panel Description **

A couple black-and-white photographs at the bottom left show workers in the locker room, with many detailed signs instructing them what to do and where.

**Visit This Exhibit Panel **

In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.

Where this belongs

• Manhattan Project National Historical Park

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