Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH)

October 11, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Room C-5521, Francis Perkins Building,

200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Representatives Attending 

Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., Chair 

Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health

Department of Labor

W. Corey Thompson, Jr., Vice Chair – Labor representative

Safety and Health Specialist

American Postal Workers’ Union, AFL-CIO

Donald G. Bathurst – Federal agency representative

Chief of Administrative Services

Department of Homeland Security

Curtis M. Bowling – Federal agency representative

Director of Environmental Readiness and Safety

Department of Defense

Mr. Ralph E. Dudley – Federal agency representative

General Manager – Safety and Health

Tennessee Valley Authority

Mr. Keith A. Nelson – Federal agency representative

Assistant Secretary for Administration

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Ms. Kathleen J.H. Wheeler – Federal agency representative

Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer

Department of Interior

Mr. Paul Hutter – Federal agency representative

General Counsel and Acting Chief of Human Resources

Department of Veterans Affairs

Ms. Catherine M. Angotti – Alternate federal agency representative

Director, Occupational Health

Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer

NASA

Jose S. Gonzales – Labor representative

Sergeant at Arms

California State Fraternal Order of Police/Empire Lodge II

Mr. Jeff Friday – Alternate labor representative

Counsel

National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)

Deborah Kleinberg, Esq. - Alternate labor representative

Counsel

Seafarers International Union (SIU)

Mr. William “Chico” McGill – Labor representative

Director, Government Employees Department

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

Milagro Rodriguez – Labor representative

Occupational Health and Safety Specialist

American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO

Also Attending

Diane Brayden – FACOSH Designated Federal Official 

Director

OSHA - Office of Federal Agency Programs 

Department of Labor

Shelby Hallmark

Director

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs

Employment Standards Administration

Department of Labor

Mikki Holmes

OSHA – Office of Federal Agency Programs

Department of Labor

Laura Mills

OSHA - Office of Federal Agency Programs 

Department of Labor

Michelle Walker

OSHA - Office of Federal Agency Programs

Department of Labor

Call to Order and Introductions

Chair Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Occupational Safety and Health, called the meeting of the Federal
Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH or Council)
to order at 1:11 p.m., October 11, 2007.  He thanked Council members for
their participation and asked FACOSH members and alternates, and other
attendees to introduce themselves.  Mr. Foulke also welcomed the new
FACOSH members:  Ralph Dudley (Tennessee Valley Authority); Paul Hutter
(Veterans Administration); Kathleen Wheeler (Department of the
Interior); Colleen Kelley (NTEU); William “Chico” McGill (IBEW); and
Chester Wheeler (SIU), who was reappointed for a second consecutive
term.

Election of Vice-Chair

Mr. Foulke thanked Mr. Corey Thompson, American Postal Workers Union,
the current Council Vice-Chair, for his service and explained the need
for a new vice-chair for the 2008 calendar year.  He further explained
that the Council’s Articles of Organization required alternating the
position between labor and management members and noted that Mr.
Thompson was a labor representative.  Mr. Foulke stated that he had
accepted Mr. Curtis Bowling’s, Department of Defense (DOD), nomination
for the position and asked for other nominations.  Hearing no other
nominations, Mr. Foulke asked for a voice vote and Mr. Bowling was
elected FACOSH Vice-Chair for calendar year 2008.

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Foulke moved that the Council approve the March 1, 2007 FACOSH
meeting minutes (Exhibit 2*).  The motion was seconded and passed
unanimously.

Updates on Ongoing Activities

Safety, Health, and Return-to-Employment (SHARE) Initiative

SHARE FY 2007 Progress

Mr. Foulke and Shelby Hallmark, Director, Department of Labor (DOL)
Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), conducted a joint
presentation on the Presidential Safety, Health, and
Return-to-Employment (SHARE) Initiative to improve safety and health
among federal employees.  Mr. Foulke called the attendees’ attention
to their copies of the fiscal year (FY) 2006 summary report to the
President (Exhibit 3).  He noted that the Initiative had been extended
for three years, through FY 2009.

During the presentation, Mr. Foulke reported that the SHARE Initiative
established four goals and that OSHA oversees Goals 1 and 2, while OWCP
oversees Goals 3 and 4.  The goals are:

To reduce total injury and illness case rates (TCRs) by at least 3% per
year;

To reduce lost time case rates (LTCRs) by at least 3% per year;

To improve the timely filing of injury and illness notices by at least
5% per year; and

To reduce lost production day rates (LPDRs) by at least 1% per year.

Mr. Foulke pointed out that the SHARE extension would allow the federal
government to build on the improvements of the first three years and
noted that FY 2006 was the first year in which the government had been
successful in meeting all four goals. 

For Goal 1, Mr. Foulke reported that the federal government was on track
to meet the goal for FY 2007.  He reported on individual agency goal
achievements and commended the efforts and improvement by the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS).  Mr. Foulke reported similar government-wide
success on Goal 2.  

Mr. Hallmark provided information on Goals 3 and 4.  He noted that the
federal government as a whole was on track to exceed Goal 3 in FY 2007,
and that it had met this goal each of the three prior years.  He also
discussed individual agency achievements toward meeting this goal.  

With respect to Goal 4, Mr. Hallmark explained that it integrates the
safety and case management areas reflecting both reductions in injuries
and quicker return of employees to work when injury occurs.  Mr.
Hallmark reported that the federal government had made substantial
improvements through the third quarter of FY 2007.  He then discussed
the progress of individual agencies, noting DHS’s significant
improvements.

In concluding the slide presentation, Mr. Hallmark noted that the number
of OWCP claims was at its lowest since the early 1970s.  Mr. Foulke
thanked Mr. Hallmark and opened the floor for questions.  

Mr. Chico McGill, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
noted the absence of information on the Department of Energy (DOE) and
asked about the omission.  Mr. Hallmark confirmed that DOE is included
in the SHARE Initiative and Ms. Diane Brayden, OSHA, stated that leaving
the DOE data out of the slide presentation was likely a matter of
presentation design.

FY 2006 President’s Report

Mr. Foulke explained the Secretary’s statutory responsibility to
provide the President an annual summary on the status of safety and
health among federal Executive Branch agencies.  He then introduced Ms.
Michelle Walker, OSHA, to update the members on the report (Exhibit 4).

Ms. Walker noted that the report had been forwarded to the President on
October 3 and called members’ attention to their copies.  Ms. Walker
explained the organization of the report and then provided specific
information on federal safety and health statistics.  She mentioned the
reductions in injury and illness cases and rates compared to FY 2005,
and the impact of these improvements on the government’s success at
meeting the SHARE total and lost time case rate reduction goals (Goals 1
and 2).  She also noted the increase in overall workers’ compensation
costs which were attributed to increases in the cost of living index and
medical expenditures.

Ms. Walker mentioned that most agencies reported having implemented the
injury and illness recordkeeping requirements under 29 CFR Part 1904,
which took effect for federal agencies on January 1, 2005.  She stated
that agencies which failed to report on their compliance status or which
had not properly implemented the requirements had been contacted to
clarify their recordkeeping responsibilities.  She then briefly
described the various methods agencies reported having established to
track and collate the necessary information.

On the subject of motor vehicle and seatbelt safety, Ms. Walker
described the programmatic and enforcement variations throughout the
government but noted that most agencies reported attempts to ensure safe
vehicle operations.  With respect to field Federal Safety and Health
Councils (FFSHCs), Ms. Walker explained their purpose and gave a brief
overview of federal agency participation, mentioning that a full report
would occur later in the day.

After Ms. Walker summarized the government’s safety and health
performance statistics, the contents of the individual agency reports,
and various graphs and charts, she reported that the agencies had
already received the request for FY 2007 information (Exhibit 5).  Ms.
Walker provided an overview of the information request, called
members’ attention to their copies, and discussed the two agency
report templates.

Mr. Bowling, DOD, and Mr. Paul Hutter, Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) asked about the various report due dates.  Ms. Walker clarified
that agency reports were due to OSHA on January 1 and the President’s
report was due on October 1.

Mr. Foulke thanked Ms. Walker and explained the OSH-related requirements
of several statutes and discussed their relevance to federal agencies. 
He then emphasized the importance of employee safety and health and its
value to the government.

FACOSH Recordkeeping Subcommittee

Mr. Foulke explained the purpose of the Subcommittee and noted that Ms.
Milagro Rodriguez, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE),
and Mr. Richard Williams, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) were the co-chairs.  He then introduced Ms. Mikki Holmes, OSHA to
provide an update on the Subcommittee’s activities.

Ms. Holmes reiterated the Subcommittee’s purpose, noted its meeting
frequency and membership, and then introduced both the voting members
and contributing experts present.  She explained that the group focused
on federal agency strategies injury and illness data collection and
volunteer identification.

Ms. Holmes enumerated the group’s recommendations to OSHA and called
FACOSH members’ attention to their copies of the Subcommittee’s
Statement of Purpose for a database and the group’s meeting minutes
(Exhibits 6 and 7).  Ms. Holmes clarified that the database would be
created from the required recordkeeping forms and be designed to allow:

Injury and illness rate comparison across agencies and job types;

Agencies to generate the required forms;

OSHA to aggregate data at different levels, such as calculating SHARE
Initiative statistics;

OSHA to identify establishments with high injury and illness rates and
develop federal agency training based on types of injuries; and

Other agencies to research the data, compare private and federal
statistics, and calculate rates based on job type.

According to Ms. Holmes, the group had identified four steps in
gathering the information for creating the database and explained the
progress of those steps.  With regard to the specific steps, Ms. Holmes
noted that the first step was for agencies to identify their various
establishments.  She informed FACOSH that OSHA had released a memo
clarifying the definition the term as it applies to the federal sector
and asking agencies to provide a list by January 1, 2008.  Ms. Holmes
noted that the remaining steps include:

Developing a process for data submission,

Testing the submission process and data quality, and 

Collecting the data.

Ms. Holmes informed FACOSH that the database implementation would
require a rule change and that OSHA had begun working with its
solicitors toward that end.  Ms. Holmes explained the scope of the
proposed rule change and stated that, in the solicitors’ opinion, such
a change would not require notice or comment periods.  After assuring
the members that the new language would be provided to them, the
Department of Labor’s Policy Planning Board, the Office of Management
and Budget, and other agencies, she opened the floor for questions.

Mr. Hutter, VA, asked about online data submission and Ms. Holmes
clarified that the submission would occur on an annual basis.  Mr. Keith
Nelson, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) asked about including
volunteers and Ms. Holmes provided the rationale and statutory
requirement for such inclusion.

Mr. Donald Bathurst, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), questioned
the various due dates and collection years.  Ms. Diane Brayden, OSHA,
reported that the change in the collection year for the OSHA-related
data was to align with private sector collection requirements.  

Mr. Bowling, DOD, asked for a rule change timeline.  Ms. Holmes
responded that the timeline called for completing the change in FY 2008
and implementing the change in FY 2009.

Federal Agency Safety and Health Training

Mr. Foulke introduced Ms. Laura Mills, OSHA, to report on federal agency
safety and health training.  Ms. Mills noted that the Office of Federal
Agency Programs (OFAP) had surveyed agency safety and health officials
to determine the types of OSH training they used and the categories of
employees trained.

According to Ms. Mills, the survey results indicated that
in-house-developed training was the most prevalent.  The preferred
methods of training varied by types of respondents and included
classroom training, audio/video conferencing, and web-based learning. 
She further explained that respondents had provided information on the
types of training materials they needed, already had, and were willing
to share.  Ms. Mills called members’ attention to their copies of the
survey summary report (Exhibit 8).  Ms. Mills also reported on plans to
develop a follow-up survey to refine the information on shared training
materials. 

As a corollary to the information on the training survey results, Ms.
Mills called members’ attention to the federal agency training week
scheduled for the following month.  She described the course offerings
and provided registration information (Exhibit 9).

Mr. Hutter, VA, asked for clarification on the distinction between the
various electronic forms of training.  Ms. Mills gave a general
explanation based on her understanding and offered to investigate
further.  Mr. Hutter agreed to subsequent email correspondence on the
subject.

Ms. Rodriguez, AFGE, asked for an explanation on the collection of data
in the ‘employee and employee representative’ category.  Ms. Mills
replied that the survey responses had come from agency safety and health
officials.

Mr. Hutter, VA, asked about “collateral duty-specific training” and
Ms. Mills expanded upon the topic, including the scope of such training.

Field Federal Safety and Health Councils

Ms. Mills provided background on the FFSHCs’ purpose and functions for
the benefit of the new FACOSH members, and also described Councils’
membership structure and development.  Ms. Mills presented a map showing
the location of the active FFSHCs across the country.

Ms. Mills described OSHA’s provisions for recognizing the annual
achievements of FFSHCs.  She noted that there were three award levels
within each of three different council size categories and described the
changes in those categories for the current year.  She also provided
members with the award results for the previous year.  

Ms. Mills continued her report, describing the extent of various
agencies’ participation and the challenges for personnel wishing to
participate.  She called members’ attention to their copies of Mr.
Foulke’s memo to agency officials and OSHA regional administrators
encouraging participation (Exhibit 10).

Mr. Nelson, HUD, requested information on the award winning FFSHCs and
their successful strategies.  Ms. Mills explained that the winning
Councils were exemplary in providing training and maintaining an active
schedule of well-attended meetings.

Mr. Hutter, VA, asked about union participation.  Ms. Rodriguez
responded confirming organized labor’s interest in and support of its
members participating in FFSHCs.  Mr. Corey Thompson, American Postal
Workers’ Union (APWU) noted that the collective bargaining agreement
between USPS management and APWU required FFSHC support and
participation. 

New Business

FACOSH Member Nominations

Mr. Foulke noted that three management and three labor
representatives’ terms would expire in June 2008.  He stated that a
request for nominations would be published in the Federal Register, and
that all qualified individuals would receive consideration.  He also
reminded the members that the Secretary reserved the right to nominate
qualified candidates.  When there were no questions on the nominations,
Mr. Foulke opened the floor for any other new business.

Other New Business

Return-to-Work/Light Duty

Mr. Hutter, VA, asked about broadening the scope of contributions of
returning employees to allow them to be more productive and support
their agencies’ missions..  Mr. Foulke noted the need for such
discussion and referenced private sector policies on the subject, and
suggested that there be a presentation(s) on this topic at the next
meeting.  Mr. Magill, IBEW, provided specific information on private
sector procedures and offered to help with the issue.

Next meeting and adjournment

Mr. Foulke suggested that the next FACOSH meeting be scheduled for April
10, 2008 and there was no objection.  Mr. Foulke mentioned FACOSH group
photos and he and Ms. Brayden distributed member certificates.  He then
thanked members for their participation and adjourned the meeting at
2:51 p.m.

*  	Exhibits referenced in these minutes are available for copying and
inspection at the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No. OSHA-2007-0010, Room
N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,
Washington DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2350.  Exhibits can also be
accessed at   HYPERLINK "http://www.regulations.gov" 
http://www.regulations.gov , the federal eRulemaking Portal.

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