Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH)

April 10, 2008 Meeting Minutes

Room C-5521, Conference Room 4

U.S. Department of Labor, Francis Perkins Building

200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20210

Representatives Attending 

Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., Chair 

Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health

Department of Labor

Curtis M. Bowling, Vice Chair – Federal agency representative

Director of Environmental Readiness and Safety

Department of Defense

Donald G. Bathurst – Federal agency representative

Chief of Administrative Services

Department of Homeland Security

Ralph E. Dudley – Federal agency representative

General Manager – Safety and Health

Tennessee Valley Authority

Catherine M. Angotti – Alternate federal agency representative

Director, Occupational Health

Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Michael W. Hager – Alternate federal agency representative

Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration

Department of Veterans Affairs

Marie Savoy – Alternate federal agency representative

Director, Office of Administration and Management Services

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Diane B. Schmitz – Alternate federal agency representative

Director, Office of Occupational Health

Department of the Interior

Jose S. Gonzales – Labor representative

Sergeant-at-Arms

California State Fraternal Order of Police/Empire Lodge II

Ruth Ann “Randi” Ciszewski – Alternate labor representative

Government Fleet Representative

National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, AFL-CIO

Jeff Friday – Alternate labor representative

National Counsel

National Treasury Employees Union

Alan Kadrofske – Alternate labor representative

Legislative Representative

American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO

Deborah Kleinberg, Esq. - Alternate labor representative

Counsel

Seafarers International Union, AFL-CIO

Dennis Phelps – Alternate labor representative

International Representative

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO

Also Participating

Tom Galassi, Deputy Director

Directorate of Enforcement Programs

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Department of Labor

Shelby Hallmark, Director

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)

Employment Standards Administration (ESA)

Department of Labor

Mikki Holmes

OSHA – Office of Federal Agency Programs

Department of Labor

Greg Barber

OSHA - Office of Federal Agency Programs 

Department of Labor

Laura Mills

OSHA - Office of Federal Agency Programs 

Department of Labor

Stephanie Semmer

ESA-OWCP

Department of Labor

Mary Pat Scanlon

Injury and Unemployment Compensation

Civilian Personnel Management Service

Department of Defense

Steven Rosen

National Park Service

Department of the Interior

Frank Denny

Office of Occupational Safety and Health

Department of Veterans Affairs

Jim Meredith

Office of Occupational Health and Safety

Department of the Interior

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 1:14 p.m. on April 10, 2008.  Mr. Foulke requested that Tom
Galassi, Department of Labor (DOL), Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), provide a review of the emergency and
shelter-in-place procedures.  FACOSH members and alternates, and other
attendees were then asked to introduce themselves.  

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Foulke certified the accuracy of the October 11, 2007 meeting
minutes.  Ms. Catherine Angiotti, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), made the motion to accept the minutes; it was
seconded and unanimously approved.  

Old Business

FACOSH Membership

Mr. Foulke noted that six members’ terms are expiring in June 2008:
Donald Bathurst, Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Keith Nelson,
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Richard Whitford
(DHS); Richard Duffy, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF);
Jose Gonzales, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP); and Milly Rodriguez,
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).  He thanked the
departing members for their service.  He noted that a request for member
nominations was published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2007,
and that a second notice was published on January 18, 2008 to allow
additional time for interested parties to respond.  Nominations were
received for a total of 18 candidates from representatives of federal
agency management, labor organizations representing federal employees,
and private sector entities.  Mr. Foulke explained that only
representatives of federal agency management and federal employee
organizations are eligible for FACOSH membership.  He noted that the
nominations are being reviewed and recommendations would soon be
forwarded to the Secretary of Labor for consideration. 

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

SHARE FY 2008 Progress

Mr. Foulke and Shelby Hallmark, Director, DOL, Employment Standards
Administration (ESA), 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 recalled that the previous FACOSH
meeting had included updates on the FY 2007 performance and that the
federal government, excluding the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) which is
not included as part of the Initiative, met all four SHARE goals for the
second consecutive year.  He noted that the Initiative has been extended
for three years, through FY 2009.

Mr. Foulke explained that the SHARE Initiative established four goals
and that OSHA tracks Goals 1 and 2, while OWCP tracks 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 cases by at least 5%
per year; and

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

Mr. Foulke reported that for FY 2008 the federal government is on track
to exceed Goals 1 and 2, as are 11 of the major departments.  He also
praised the success of DHS and its contribution to the improvement of
federal government’s overall SHARE performance in these areas of
emphasis. 

Mr. Hallmark provided information on Goals 3 and 4.  He noted that the
federal government as a whole is on track to exceed Goal 3 in FY 2008,
and that nearly every agency would likely exceed their individual
targets.  With respect to Goal 4, Mr. Hallmark reported that the federal
government’s substantial improvements during both FY 2006 and FY 2007
are continuing during FY 2008, noting that the goal is a difficult one
to achieve.  He then noted that most agencies are performing well and
that there is a clear variation between agencies’ performance when
blue collar jobs are compared to white collar ones.

Mr. Hallmark mentioned the working relationship with the USPS and noted
his agency’s willingness to work with other agencies on an individual
basis.  Mr. Foulke closed the topic by thanking everyone for their
efforts towards the success of the SHARE Initiative and mentioned that
the FY 2008 second quarter statistics would soon be posted on the DOL
website.

After asking for questions and hearing none, Mr. Foulke turned the
meeting over to FACOSH Vice-Chair, Mr. Curtis Bowling, Department of
Defense (DoD), then departed for another commitment.

FACOSH Recordkeeping Subcommittee

Mr. Bowling explained that the Recordkeeping Subcommittee was
established during the March 1, 2007 FACOSH meeting to explore
strategies for collecting the site-specific injury and illness data that
federal agencies are now required to keep under OSHA recordkeeping
requirements found at 29 CFR Part 1904.  He then introduced Ms. Mikki
Holmes, OSHA, who provided an update on the Subcommittee’s activities
since the October 11, 2007 FACOSH meeting.  

Ms. Holmes reported that OSHA has been collecting the agency
establishment lists, drafting the rule change under 29 CFR Part 1960 to
incorporate the proposed recordkeeping changes, and working with the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to identify system modifications to the
private sector survey.  Ms. Holmes reported that 15 major departments
and 55 independent agencies have provided establishment lists and that
the information is being collated into a database.  Ms. Holmes noted
that the agencies would be asked to confirm the accuracy of their
information and provide a contact name for each establishment or group
of establishments.

Ms. Holmes clarified that the rule change is necessary to allow OSHA to
collect the injury and illness data on an annual basis.  The change
would incorporate a modification to the due date for the agency annual
reports to OSHA, reinsert requirements for access to medical records,
affirm that volunteers in the federal sector are considered employees
and covered by the recordkeeping requirements, stipulate responsibility
for recording an injury or illness experienced by an employee of one
agency while being supervised by an employee of another agency, and
create of procedures for recording employee job series and identifying
volunteers on the OSHA Form 300 log.  Ms. Holmes also provided an
overview of the review and approval process for the rule change and the
planned outreach efforts to the agencies. 

Ms. Holmes also reported that BLS has agreed to modify its private
sector injury and illness data collection survey to accommodate
additional information needed for the federal data.  She also noted
that, unlike the private sector sampling, the federal data would be a
census, collecting all of the available data.  Upon approval of the rule
change and finalization of the establishment lists, OSHA would provide
the establishment lists to BLS to begin collecting the data.  Ms. Holmes
explained that the agencies could provide the data as an electronic
file, enter the information online, or fill out a paper survey.

Ms. Holmes noted that OSHA would be prepared to provide assistance to
federal agencies through written guidance, advance copies of the survey,
an informational webcast, and assistance with filling out the necessary
forms.  She ended the presentation with a discussion of the need to code
data reported under open-ended questions on the OSHA Form 301 incident
report, and expressed the Subcommittee’s desire to work with the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to develop
an online query system for data analysis.

Since there were no questions on the subject, Mr. Bowling proceeded to
the next update.

FEDTARG08 Inspection Program

Mr. Bowling explained that on January 3, 2008, OSHA published a
directive implementing a nationwide inspection targeting program for
federal agency worksites as a means of addressing deficiencies noted in
the Government Accountability Office’s April 2006 audit report on the
status of workplace safety and health in the federal sector.  He
introduced Greg Barber, OSHA, to update the Council on the program.

Mr. Barber reiterated Mr. Bowling’s explanation of the program’s
genesis and called members’ attention to the copy of the directive
provided in their packets.  He then provided definitions of several
terms, based on questions he frequently received about the directive.

Mr. Barber reported that OSHA used OWCP claims data for determining site
selection.  He explained that each OSHA Region received a primary
inspection list, and that the area offices would be conducting
inspections within their geographic areas of responsibility.  Once the
primary lists are completed, the Region could contact the National
Office to request a list of secondary sites.

Mr. Barber clarified that the site selection was a random process and
that the primary lists included all establishments reporting 100 or more
lost time cases (LTCs) during FY 2006, 50% of those reporting 50-99
LTCs, and 10% of those reporting 20-49 LTCs.  He also informed the
members that there are three conditions under which a site could be
removed from the list.  He specified that a site can be deleted if it:

Has received of a comprehensive safety inspection within the previous 24
months;

Is participant in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP); or 

Is an OSHA Strategic Partnership site that satisfies specific program
requirements.

Mr. Barber explained that the inspections would include a recordkeeping
evaluation, and could include a health inspection or ergonomic hazard
consultation.  Mr. Barber also noted that, for sites with security
clearance access requirements, OSHA personnel conducting the inspections
would obtain the necessary clearances.  Finally, OSHA would issue
notices upon determining that a violation of an applicable standard
existed.

When there were no questions, Mr. Bowling moved on to the next agenda
item.

Federal Agency Safety and Health Training

Mr. Bowling introduced Ms. Laura Mills, OSHA, to report on federal
agency safety and health training.  Ms. Mills recalled the previous
meeting’s presentation and called members’ attention to the results
report included in their packets.  She noted that the OSHA - Office of
Federal Agency Programs (OFAP) had sent out Part I of a survey to agency
safety and health officials.  The survey asked about the types of OSH
training they used, the preferred training formats, their willingness to
share materials, and their interests in OSHA-developed training.

Ms. Mills then noted that the Council members were emailed a copy of
Part II of the survey for review and that a copy was included in their
packets.  According to Ms. Mills, Part II would clarify the available
agency training materials and allow agencies a second chance to provide
information not available when they answered Part I.  Part II would ask
more specific questions about the training topic, its intended audience,
the format, and duration, and would be sent only to the chief agency
safety and health managers.

Finally, Ms. Mills discussed the survey technology and the possible
means of providing access to the information collected.  Since there
were no questions on the issue, Ms. Mills proceeded to clarify the
schedule for the federal agency training week (FedWeek) for the coming
years.  The next scheduled week would likely occur in November 2008 for
FY 2009, and then switch to a permanent summer schedule in FY 2010 and
beyond.

Since there were no questions, Mr. Bowling asked for a motion to accept
Part I of the survey results.  The motion was made, seconded, and passed
unanimously.  He then adjourned the meeting for a five-minute break. 
Upon returning from the break, he noted the recent arrival of Ms. Diane
Schmitz, Department of the Interior, and moved on to the New Business
portion of the meeting.

New Business

Return-to-Work Programs

Mr. Bowling introduced the Return-to-Work Programs topic and explained
that a series of presentations would be made by several subject matter
experts.  He then introduced Ms. Stephanie Semmer, OWCP, to begin the
discussion.

OWCP Presentation

Ms. Semmer stressed the necessity of having the appropriate personnel on
both the safety and health, and workers’ compensation sides to ensure
success in meeting the SHARE goals.  She noted that OWCP had been
working to provide outreach and assistance to federal agencies to help
them increase their timely filing of workers’ compensation forms.  She
then mentioned both DHS and the VA as agencies with which her office has
worked individually.

According to Ms. Semmer, OWCP has numerous tools to assist in returning
injured employees to work.  Some of the tools she mentioned included:

An early nurse intervention program

Disability tracking system

Vocational rehabilitation

Telephone conferences

Periodic role management

Ms. Semmer emphasized the necessary contributions of the employing
agency, including timely filing of claims, both injury notices and wage
loss claims.  She praised the increases in timely filing and decreases
in lost production days since the beginning of the SHARE program.  

Ms. Semmer also discussed the impetus for reevaluating the formula to
use FY 2006 as the base year in calculating lost production day rates. 
She clarified that the calculation could now account for partial days in
hours, rather than rounding up to a whole day.

Finally, Ms. Semmer discussed several of OWCP’s plans for future
improvements including:

Electronic filing of CA-7 forms

Reintroducing the CA-3 form in an electronic format

Improving the processing of disability claims

Improving and reinvigorating the overall OWCP process

Updating training and guidance materials

Expanding electronic filing of CA-1 and CA-2 forms

Improving the information OWCP provides to agencies

Ms. Semmer closed by mentioning an upcoming interagency meeting
occurring on May 13 and offered to include FACOSH members in the
electronic distribution group, if they were not already included.  Mr.
Bowling thanked her and introduced Mary Pat Scanlon (DoD) as the next
speaker.

DoD Presentation

Ms. Scanlon began her presentation by discussing DoD’s home visitation
project.  The home visits were implemented to determine if employees
receiving OWCP payments were able to return to work.  In addition to
discussing OWCP benefits during the visits, additional topics (when
appropriate) included retirement, survivorship counseling, and other
issues.  The home visitation project resulted in returning some
employees to work, terminating the benefits of some, and restructuring
the payments of others, all of which reduced the OWCP costs for DoD. 
Ms. Scanlon noted that every six months a DoD liaison will report on the
project.

Ms. Scanlon explained the Pipeline Program, a Defense Safety Oversight
Council initiative designed to expedite case review and encourage
managers to return employees to work.  She mentioned including
incentives for managers who might be reluctant to modify a given
position to accommodate an injured employee.  According to Ms. Scanlon,
the program succeeded in removing more than 600 employees from OWCP
roles, either through returning them to work or disability retirements,
and thereby providing a substantial cost savings in compensation
payments.

Finally, Ms. Scanlon provided several graphic examples of OWCP cost
savings and reductions.  She closed by attributing the increase in
timely filing to electronic submissions, and the corresponding benefits
to employees and the employer.  Mr. Bowling thanked her and introduced
Mr. Steve Rosen (DOI) as the next speaker.

DOI Presentation

Mr. Rosen began by describing the diversity and geographic coverage of
National Park Service (NPS) worksites.  He also enumerated several
challenges inherent to the geographically disperse workforce, including
more than 40,000 paid employees and approximately 163,000 volunteers. 
His discussion included illustrations of the cost advantages to
returning employees to work as soon as possible.

Mr. Rosen continued his presentation by discussing the challenges of
redesigning the workers’ compensation program to encourage
return-to-work strategies.  Some of the challenges included:

Promoting an organizational culture that embraced return-to-work
strategies and included supervisory accountability for workplace safety
and health

Creating standard operating procedures, training, and resources

Increasing the priority of workers’ compensation case management

Creating consistent policies and procedures across a highly
decentralized organization

Eliminating communication barriers

Creating a comprehensive training program that accounted for large
discrepancies in skill areas

Encouraging proactive case management

Increasing the accuracy, availability, and utility of the data reporting
system

Providing technical assistance and reference material

Creating investigation services

Among the solutions to the challenges, Mr. Rosen mentioned the
following:

Issuing guidance on supervisory responsibility and accountability, and
proactive case management

Creating incentives to improve workplace safety

Enhancing data reporting capabilities

Creating a tracking system for claims filing and cases

Creating an interactive satellite training program

Providing online training

Contracting for claims investigation

Developing the programs and resources to encourage returning employees
to work

Evaluating workplace practices and job requirements for frequently
injured employees

Developing strategies and tools to increase the rapport between
supervisors and employees

Mr. Rosen also discussed the reasons for divergent decreasing lost
production days and increasing workers’ compensation expense figures,
citing several influencing factors including inflation.  He ended his
presentation by emphasizing the necessity of developing a relationship
between the operations, risk management, and human resources functions. 
Mr. Bowling next introduced Mr. Michael Hager and Mr. Frank Denny, both
from the Veterans Administration (VA).  

 

VA Presentation

Mr. Hager began by emphasizing the need for an effective workers’
compensation program as a support for the VA’s mission of serving
veterans of the military.  The VA has several metric-driven initiatives
in this area and is continuing to develop numerous processes.  He
compared the necessity of an effective workers’ compensation program
to one of the support legs of a three-legged stool, the other two legs
being safety, health, and prevention; and total organizational
engagement.  He then introduced Mr. Denny as the person to present more
specific information.

Mr. Denny explained the oversight of the workers’ compensation program
in his organization and noted that each of the VA’s subcomponents had
the latitude to decide the correct placement of the program based on
that component’s needs.  He also stated that workers’ compensation
was an employee right to which they are entitled, and that managers have
obligations to both ensure their exercise of that right and proper
stewardship of public funds. 

According to Mr. Denny, the first part of any return-to-work program is
a practice of getting injured employees back into the workplace in
either a light duty or alternate duty capacity.  He noted that the
program efficiency occurred when an organization offered such returns,
where medically feasible, to all employees with job-related injuries.  

Mr. Denny emphasized the necessity of leadership involvement and the
input of labor representatives.  He described the structure of his
organization’s program, including steering committees and strategic
plans.  He then explained the process for providing weekly progress
reports to Mr. Hager.

Mr. Denny provided the Council with a visual representation of the
VA’s workers’ compensation strategic plan and directions for
accessing it through the Administration’s website.  He also described
the VA’s progress in several measures of the workers’ compensation
program and provided an overview of the analyses included in the weekly
progress reports.  Finally, Mr. Denny explained the benefits of using
electronic information systems and data analysis to increase the
efficiency of workers’ compensation case management processes.  

Next, Mr. Bowling introduced Mr. Dennis Phelps, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), to make the final presentation
on Northrup-Grumman’s return-to-work program.  Mr. Phelps presented on
behalf of Mr. Jim Thornton of Northrup-Grumman, who was unable to attend
the meeting. 

Northrup-Grumman/IBEW Presentation

Mr. Phelps began by noting that Northrup-Grumman considered its
return-to-work program to be robust.  Mr. Phelps enumerated several
benefits of a well-managed program and explained that the company
developed an effective program by embracing the return-to-work program
and implementing a managerial commitment to the process.

Mr. Phelps delineated the specifics of Northrup-Grumman’s
return-to-work program, its development, implementation, information
dissemination, management, oversight, and accountability.  He noted the
psychological and physical benefits of conscientious case management and
demonstrating concern for injured employees.  He also emphasized the
importance of continual program evaluation and noted that careful
program design and implementation could result in an efficient
return-to-work program that is beneficial for both the employer and
employees.

Mr. Bowling thanked Mr. Phelps and extended his gratitude to all of the
presenters.  He then opened the floor to questions or comments.

Mr. Ralph Dudley, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), asked about any
grievance issues with return-to-work programs.  Mr. Phelps responded
that including labor representatives in the program development process
eliminated most, if not all such issues.  Mr. Dudley and Mr. Phelps went
on to discuss specific labor issues and negotiation processes.  

Mr. Bowling asked Ms. Scanlon (DoD) about how the various labor
organizations received the DoD’s Pipeline Program.  She replied that
the reception had been favorable and went on to describe several facets
of the program beyond the return-to-work portion.  Ms. Semmer (OWCP)
added that her office had expanded its outreach from federal 

agencies to include labor organizations, so that the unions better
understand the process and its benefits to workers.  She offered to
provide assistance (to the agencies) with outreach to these
organizations.

Mr. Jim Meredith (DOI) complimented the efforts of OWCP and noted the
correlation between electronic claims transmission and improving
workplace safety.  

Mr. Bowling then asked for any other new business.  Since there was
none, Mr. Bowling asked for input on scheduling the next meeting for
October 2008.

Next Meeting and Adjournment

Mr. Bowling suggested that the next FACOSH meeting be scheduled for
October 23, 2008 and there was no objection.  Mr. Galassi (OSHA)
affirmed that the location would be the same and then entered the
various meeting documents into the record.  Mr. Bowling adjourned the
meeting at 3:51 pm.

*	Exhibit documents (listed below) from this meeting are available for
copying and inspection at the OSHA Docket Office, Docket No.
OSHA-2008-0011, 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.

Document	Document Description

0002	News Release:  FACOSH Meeting Announcement

0003	Oct. 11, 2007 Approved FACOSH Meeting Minutes

0004	Dec. 10, 2007 Federal Register Notice Soliciting FACOSH Membership

0005	Jan. 18, 2008 Federal Register Notice Reopening the Record for
FACOSH Nominations

0006	Combined Power Points:  SHARE, FACOSH Recordkeeping Subcommittee,
FEDTARG08, and Federal Agency Training

0007	FEDTARG08 Directive

0008	Approved Federal Agency Training Survey Part I Results

0009	Draft Federal Agency Training Survey Part II

0010	Combined Power Points:  Return-to-Work Presentations



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