News

Recent phishing incidents lead to new training requirements for some employees. Recently, in a single week, four employees gave their passwords out to other people. Two gave up their username and password to a phishing e-mail; two transmitted passwords in clear text due to misconfigured systems, including a smartphone that failed to encrypt the e-mail login. These mistakes cost time and money. It costs the laboratory an estimated $2,000 in man-hours each time a password gets revealed to phishers and…

Benefits’ Mary Todd and Wellness Office’s Jeanne Koester. The Wellness Office’s Jeanne Koester and Benefits Office’s Mary Todd wrote this article. Work can be a stressful place, even in the best financial situations. To help you manage your stress level in these transitioning times, the Workforce Development and Resources Section has a few things to offer. The Wellness Office will offer free 10-minute massages to assist employees with relaxation and stress relief. These will take place from 11 a.m. –…

Morton Arboretum arborist Frederic Miller examines trees near the Fermilab Village for the emerald ash borer in 2010. The Fermilab Village is home to a diverse community of trees, including exotic ornamental varieties and species native to our area.  These trees provide a habitat for insects, birds and mammals as well as provide an appealing appearance and welcome shade in the summer. Unfortunately, approximately 150 ash trees exist among this collection.  This is unfortunate because these trees likely will become…

Nancy GrossmanPhoto: Reidar Hahn Nancy Grossman, head of the ES&H section, wrote this week’s column. For those of us working at Fermilab, it is hard not to focus on numbers. We like numbers and we think we understand them. But, do we? When it comes to injury statistics, the numbers aren’t always clear. Low numbers can either mean that you have a good program in place that keeps your personnel safe or it can mean people are getting hurt but…

Forgetting to follow standard practices when driving can result in an accident and ticket. Photo: Fermilab By finding what actions work best to get a task done and then making those actions the norm; we create a set of standard practices that allow us to get expected results for many of our daily activities at home and at work. An example of standard practices is traffic rules for the use of the road. By using these practices, we get the…

Mike Lindgren I love the winter holidays, and I always try to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. During that time I usually just eat too much and try to not think about work. Last week, however, I thought it would be fun to look back and think about our 2010 accomplishments. Fermilab and its Particle Physics Division achieved every science and operations goal that we had for 2010, and everyone—admins, technicians, engineers, and scientists—should be…

Be careful when walking on icy or snow-covered surfaces. Even though Fermilab has a very good program for dealing with snow and ice, it is impossible to immediately clear all walking and driving surfaces. According to quarterly injury and illness reports, snow and ice accumulation on Fermilab grounds means that one or two people show up in the Medical Department with injuries resulting from slips and falls. In most cases, they are minor bumps and bruises, but they can be…