David Rynders retires, leaving a legacy of safety at SURF
David Rynders, who served as the radiation safety officer and experiment safety manager at SURF, has retired after eight years of service.
On any given week, there is more radiation in use at your average hospital cancer care center than at all the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).
“Medical treatments that are done routinely in hospital oncology departments, whether it is for thyroid cancer or imaging for a heart study, have way more activity than what we have in all of our source licenses,” said David Rynders, who recently retired as the radiation safety officer and experiment safety manager at SURF.
Most of the super-sensitive experiments at SURF are placed underground to escape various types of radiation, not move closer to them. Nonetheless, the researchers at SURF do employ some radioactive elements in underground experiments, and the use of devices or materials that emit radioactivity beyond the normal background requires certified experts to ensure safety and regulatory compliance. This was one part of David Rynders’ work at SURF. He managed and ensured compliance with SURF’s broad-scope Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
Rynders says this license gives researchers at SURF a wide range of tools to choose from if they need instruments that employ radiation for the calibration or operation of their experiments.
“This license is a huge marketing advantage for SURF over other labs that are vying for future experiments that don’t have the same license or oversight,” Rynders said.
Rynders is both a Certified Health Physicist (CHP) and a Certified Safety Professional (CSP). The years he spent at SURF capped a distinguished career that included work in both public and private sectors, along with service in the U.S. Army, where he retired as a lieutenant colonel. Rynders emphasizes the high value of the safety culture at SURF.
“I really enjoyed my time there because I felt that there was an incredible sense of teamwork,” Rynders said. “One of the things that I really valued is you could be in a meeting and say ‘the emperor had no clothes,’ and not worry about somebody getting overly offended. There wasn’t any sort of juvenile behavior that can ruin a lot of different organizations. Rather, the team wanted to work together to recognize and resolve issues head-on.”
Rynders says this openness, teamwork, and strong safety culture made his job as laboratory safety manager enjoyable. During his time at SURF, the organization surpassed one million hours of time worked without an on-the-job injury resulting in lost time. Rynders says this milestone is a credit to everyone at SURF and gives praise to both the science and environmental safety and health departments for their commitment to safety.
“It’s the folks who undertake the labor at SURF each day, and those who are the first-line supervisors for interns, students, and contractors, who establish the safety culture, and they are the ones who deserve the credit for our excellent track record, those like Mark Hanhardt, Doug Tiedt, Markus Horn, Charles Maupin, Chad Dunbar, Julie Ewing, Gavin Cox, Julia Delgaudio, Alex Geffre and many others.” Rynders said. “It’s the gospel truth and I really enjoyed being around them.”
In retirement, Rynders is looking forward to having time to try new things and maybe a bit of travel.
“Over my career, my wife has followed me all over the world, and it’s time to go where she wants to,” he said.
Julie Ewing, the director of environment, safety, and health at SURF, says Rynders retirement is well-deserved. She gives him a great deal of credit for helping to build and maintain the foundation for safety culture at SURF over the past eight years.
“Throughout his time with us, David has been a vital part of our team. His contributions have left a lasting mark, and he will be greatly missed. We wish him the very best in this well-deserved new chapter in his life,” Ewing said.
