OAK RIDGE, Tenn.DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractors know the importance of training to ensure safety. Recently, it helped save a life in an unlikely place.

While eating lunch at a local restaurant, Eric Glenn noticed a man choking on his sandwich.

“I just heard a man coughing and he did the choking sign, so I ran over and gave him the Heimlich maneuver six or seven times,” Glenn said.

His efforts removed the airway blockage, and the man was able to return to his seat moments later.

Eric Glenn, a radiological control technician with Isotek, used his training to help save a life on his lunch break.
Eric Glenn, a radiological control technician with Isotek, used his training to help save a life on his lunch break.

Glenn was able to act swiftly and effectively because he has training in these situations. Throughout his career, he’s been certified to perform first aid, CPR, and to administer the automated external defibrillator (AED).

Glenn is a radiological control technician at Isotek, OREM’s prime contractor for processing and disposing the site’s inventory of uranium-233.

Safety is essential to performing Isotek's complex work successfully, and the company takes steps to ensure its employees are prepared if anything unexpected happens, offering first aid, CPR, and AED training to its employees.

“He comes in here a few times a week,” Robert McGrath, the restaurant’s general manager, said of the man Glenn helped. “One minute you’re eating a sandwich and the next, you’re fighting for your life.”

The extra training Isotek offered proved helpful beyond the workplace, such as a normal lunch break on a Tuesday. In this case, it helped save a life.