Document 8RjaKO3eE687wKqGXpMRQeVKe

DIVISION OF SAFETY AND HEALTH Monthly Update April 4, 2017 2017 Regional Safety Managers/Emergency Management Meeting - Held the annual meeting in San Diego, CA the week of March 20-24th Arc Flash training and a Strategic Planning session were provided as part of the meeting. A strategic planning report will be provided to the FWS Division of Safety and Health by the planning session facilitator shortly. Water Control Structures were identified by all regions as an area requiring a concerted effort on establishing consistent design / safety features and a Service wide inventory. Comings and Goings for FWS Safety - Region 1 safety specialist Bob VanBuskirk retired in December 2016. Region 1 hired Dane VanPelt as a new safety specialist. Region 5 safety manager John Guiel retired effective April 1, 2017. Region 3 safety specialist/injury workers compensation specialist Jesse Meredith resigned April 2, 2017 CHIP: DOI Safety and Health Program Evaluation - The evaluation is set for April 23-28, 2017. The team will be visiting Ashland FWCO, St. Croix WMD, Iron River, Twin City ESFO, and MN Valley NWR, and the region 3 RO. The out-brief will be held on Friday April 28, 2017. 2017 Headquarters Safety Inspection - Safety inspection was conducted March 29-30. Overall, minor items like electrical cord management, clutter, storage and portable heaters were identified. As a result of the inspection, there are 2 items for BMO action: update HQ Rally Maps, and issue a heater use reminder to all HQ personnel. The HQ CDSO is writing up the findings and will issue a draft to the Division of Safety and Health for review. FWS Safety Inspection Abatement System (IAS) - Development work continues with the Information Resources and Technology Management (IRTM), Branch of Engineering Services (BES), Applications Development Team (ADT). It was agreed to program the IAS with mobile access (I-pads, I-phones) use in mind. The FWS IAS workgroup continues to work on modifying inspection checklists for IAS use. Climate Change - Per DOI, quarterly updates on the DOI Climate Change strategy work has been stopped. Secretarial Order 3349 - Under DOI Strategy 3, we had committed to drafting and finalizing a Temperature Stress safety chapter to aid in preventing injury/illness to employees from exposure temperature. It's still in Draft form. KERRY: Region 4 Safety and Health Evaluation - Final report was entered into DTS on March 16 for Director's signature. Region 4 was provided an opportunity to review and comment prior to finalizing the report. DSH received no feedback. Region 5 Safety and Health Evaluation FY 2017 - The evaluation was conducted Jan 30 - Feb 03 with the regional safety manager John Guiel in attendance. The report writing is currently underway. Collateral Duty Safety Officer (CDSO) on-line / video project: DOI & FWS - DOI led on line CDSO training development continues. BLM National Training Center is facilitating project with core group of bureaus safety reps & DOI Safety Managers. The project remains to be ahead of schedule - due to be completed OCT/NOV 2017. Serious Accident Investigation Team R2 fatality report (Attwater Prarie Chicken NWR) Final report was issued to ABMO. The establishment of a Board-of-Review is underway. Planned participants are John Blitch, HQ - National Heavy Equipment Coordinator, Dave Hoskins, HQ AD - Fish and Aquatic Conservation, and Chris Jensen, Region 3 - ARD, Budget & Administration. FWS Safety and Health Strategic Plan - A strategic planning session was held at the 2017 RSM meeting. Kerry is currently working with the Strategic Planning facilitator in drafting the FWS S&H strategic plan. EMERY: Workers Compensation / Service Chargeback Year 2017-Quarter 2 - Chargeback Report Review completed end of March, with 12 corrections identified Service-wide, for Regions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 9 (including OLE): revealing one case deletion for a claim belonging to Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and 16 Alpha Code changes, 5 which belong to OLE). Those alpha changes were corrected. FWS continues to show a downward trend (6 years running) of annual new cases. Workers compensation costs remained stable, with a slight 6% increase in 2016 due largely in part to an increase in medical costs. Death Gratuity Payment (Fire) - Emery was asked by Ted Mason, FWS National Fire Safety Specialist at NIFC, Boise, Idaho, to review a rough draft of a re-tooling of the $10,000 Death Gratuity Payment Procedures, which is covered in the Line of Duty Death (LODD) guide. He intends to undertake a complete re-tooling of the whole guide in the near future, and will be requesting my assistance with that. DOI Workers Compensation Council - Met on March 9th to discuss workers compensation needs analysis across the department, evaluating the limitation with SMIS in regards to workers compensation, elimination of POWER Goal VI (Reducing Lost production Day rates), as it is not useful or meaningful as a measure. Workers Compensation Compliance and Accountability Reviews - Scheduled Bureau level reviews by DOI are on hold. DOI still intends to conduct them in the future. FWS can expect to receive reviews of at least 2 regions. SMIS - Emery is utilizing a new SMIS upgrade he requested as a new feature in the SMIS Case Management by Chargeback Year report, to explore new metrics generation and looking at specific types of OWCP adjudicated cases (e.g., Closed, Medical, Daily and Periodic Rolls, Death cases, Overpayments, etc.). He plans to explore this and other analytics opportunities which the Branch of Analytics. TORT Policies - Work with the Solicitor's office continues on re-tooling the Service's manual chapter 401 FW 3 Claims by the Government. OLE Workers Compensation Files - Re-tooling the HQ and Service-wide LE workers' compensation case files continues. A DOI inspection of the files is anticipated for the future, anywhere from this year to several years out. Region Support - Assisting several Regions on various complex issues on claims management and procedure. February 3, 2017 Evaluator: Kerry Lyons, Safety Manager, FWS HQ, Division of Safety and Health USFWS Division of Safety and Health Region 5 Safety and Health Program Evaluation Fiscal Year 2017 The Regional Safety Office is currently responsible for the following programs: Safety and Health, Workers' Compensation, Environmental Compliance Assessments, Tort Claims, and oversight of engineering projects to include the review of new construction projects in the contracting, design, and inspection phases. The Regional Safety and Health Office consists of one Occupational Safety and Health Manager who also carries out the duties of as the region's Chief of Engineering, one Injury Compensation Safety Specialist, one Architect, and one Environmental Coordinator. The Injury Compensation Specialist commits 50% of their time to safety and 50% time to injury compensation. The Architect conducts building condition assessments for structures that are located on refuges. The Environmental Coordinator commits 50% of their time to environmental assessments and related issues, and 50% of their time to refuge engineering duties. Facilities Visited: North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery, North Attleboro, Massachusetts Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Shirley, New York Office of Law Enforcement, Valley Stream, New York New Jersey Ecological Services Office, ES Office New Jersey ES Office John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Philadelphia, PA Region 5 Offices, Hadley, Massachusetts Commendable Items: New employee (new-hire / transfer-in) safety orientation checklist in use. Collateral Duty Safety Training(CDSOs) - all duty stationed had an assigned and trained CDSO, and in several instances, more than one employee at the duty station had attended CDSO training and had prior CDSO collateral duties. John Heinz NWR - decon shower - non-slip rubber matting below shower (simple item to prevent slipping yet rarely seen) Job Hazard Assessments present at duty stations (need signed review by manager, sign-in sheet when reviewed by employees). Items for continued monitoring for field and Regional Safety Office: Safety Training and Documentation. Continue to ensure duty stations continue to implement and use some type of method to track training in order to know what type of training is required of employees and if the required training is current (e.g. spreadsheet, judicious use of DOI Learn). Driver authorizations forms. Ensure these forms are filled out, filed, and that employees' driver's license are reviewed annually. 1 February 3, 2017 Evaluator: Kerry Lyons, Safety Manager, FWS HQ, Division of Safety and Health page 1 of 2 Safety program elements requiring targeted improvements: Safety committee meetings / staff meeting minutes. Duty stations have been discussing safety topics in meeting, yet documented minutes of quarterly meetings must be documented and kept on file. Required items to be discussed in safety meetings according to 240 FW 1 include: attendee names, discussions of safety problems / resolutions, project assignments and safety considerations, safety awareness activities, and the circumstances contributing to any accidents or incidents that occurred at the facility since the last meeting. Some stations did have a sign in sheet with a titled topic regarding safety. Minutes from the committee or staff meeting should be posted to inform others that may not have been able to attend on that specific day. Station Safety Plan. Ensure plans include requirements found in 240 FW 1; recommend also listing within the safety plan, which OSHA written programs are required at the respective duty station. OSHA written programs. While OSHA written programs such as confined space, bloodborne pathogen, lockout tagout, and hazard communication were present at some of the duty stations, many plans lacked specific required information. For example: - Confined Space: full inventory of identified spaces; - Bloodborne Pathogens: identify who is deemed occupationally exposed; - Hearing Conservation: identify who is deemed occupationally exposed; - Lockout Tagout: list of authorized employees and proof of training; - Respiratory Protection - identify who is deemed occupationally exposed; - Hazard Communication: current chemical inventories, proof of training. page 2 of 2 2 Executive Summary - Workers' Compensation Program 2016 Program Status The Service continued to reduce its annual number of cases for the 6th straight year, which points to controlling the occurrence of new injuries, the closing out of older cases, a continued process to file certain minor injuries as "For Record Only", and focused scrutiny to identify erroneous claims Workers' compensations costs remain stable, with a 6% increase in 2016, which is attributed mostly to an increase in medical costs and a slight increase in wage loss compensation costs compared to 2015 The six highest-cost cases, with an approximate total cost of $1,235,000 represents 21% of the FWS 2016 overall workers' compensation costs of approximately $6,000,000. The highest cost case accrued $459,000 in medical costs in 2016, which was approximately a $390,000 increase over the claim's 2015 cost. The other five claims represented costs exceeding $100,000 each From 2012-2016, there have been a 21% reduction in new cases; 33% reduction in cases 1-3 years old; and 32% reduction in cases over 3 years old with claimants less that 60 years of age. The overall reduction in the number of claims (old and new) during this period is 23% The Department of the Interior (DOI) Services for Accountability, OWCP, and Retirement (SOAR) Team is actively managing the Service's Long Term Roll (LTR) cases using experienced and trained workers' compensation professionals to intensely monitor for Return-to-Work (RTW) opportunities The Service continues to lead the way amongst the bureaus, credited by DOI as being the model bureau in solid operational formula and innovation, including the adoption of many FWS methods by sister bureaus Drivers & Challenges Drivers: LTR cases, though relatively low in number (10% of the total Service caseload), represent the lions share of costs, at 68% of the total annual costs The Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment (POWER) Presidential Initiative was implemented in 2011 to increase timely filing of claims, increase employee RTW, and reduce days away from work due to injuries. This initiative ended in 2014 and the Department of Labor indicates that it will soon be replaced with a similar initiative Challenges: No training for supervisors in handling workers' compensation Resistance from the Regional Human Resources Divisions to implement a formal Service RTW program Insufficient number of trained and experienced Regional Injury Compensation Specialists (RICS) and assistants DOI Safety Management Information System lacks adequate case management tools Inadequate DOI workers' compensation program leadership Trends V Program Goals Annual Service caseloads have dropped for 6-years straight Total costs trend reflects decreasing costs from 2007-2014. Costs are up 6% ($355,953) in 2016 (compared to 2% in 2015) Wage Loss Claims remain stable, with a 3% increase ($123,915) Medical expenses continue to rise for all citizens, and is reflected in the highest-cost cases Reduce Service workers' compensation costs through a strong Return-to-Work Program Regions 1, 5, 9 represent highest overall LTR wage loss costs and will be the primary focus for cost reduction initiatives in FY16; followed by Regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 as secondary focus; and Region 7 and 8 as tertiary focus Adopt the use of the Department of Labor's ECOMP claims management system as the primary DOI workers' compensation system for HQ claims. After a 1 year pilot test, offer it's use to the Regions if successes are found with HQ claims Increase workers' compensation training opportunities aimed at improving Regional case management capabilities Communicate workers' compensation program successes and challenges to our stakeholders FWS CHARGEBACK YEAR 2016 WORKERS' COMPENSATION COSTS & CASELOADS (TOTALS) - BY region Region R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 # Cases 106 98 122 152 94 90 48 Med $ 185,519 638,062 47,038 318,194 156,250 204,135 82,930 Comp $ FWS TOTAL $ 663,172 848,690 415,622 1,053,684 398,517 445,555 467,107 785,302 527,190 683,439 388,822 592,957 182,640 265,570 R8 58 66,329 10,260 76,589 R9 59 161,169 1,100,831 1,262,000 cby2016 compensation & medical costs 9-year costs trending TOTAL 827 1,859,627 4,154,160 6,013,787 Comp $ Med $ R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Cost ($ Million) -Linear (Cost ($ Million)) 9-YEAR TOTAL COSTS & CASELOADS TREND Year 2008 2009 Cost ($ Million) 6.3 5.6 # Cases 1,093 1,162 2010 6.2 1,140 LONG TERM ROLL CASES (DE, PR, PN PW) - COSTS & CASELOADS Wage Loss Comp $ Medical $ REGION 1 608,570 56,807 REGION 2 363 ,139 66,503 REGION 3 359,978 10,101 REGION 4 332,599 55,913 REGION 5 512,489 40,661 REGION 6 340,288 61,889 REGION 7 175,,158 1,582 REGION 8 0 0 REGION 9 FWS TOTAL 1,052,666 3,744,887 55,432 348,888 2011 6.3 1,149 TOTAL 665,377 429,642 370,079 388,513 553,150 402,177 176,739 0 1,108,098 4,093,775 2012 6.1 1,076 # Cases 20 10 7 9 14 8 6 0 12 86 4-TIER CASE TOTALS MATRIX BY AGE OF CASE - FOR RETURN-TO- WORK POTENTIAL Personnel Catagory <1 yr 1 -3 yrs |>3 yrs / Age <60 Full Time Firefighter 389 177 65 3 3 0 Volunteer 44 13 0 YCC Others FWS TOTAL 24 3 1 1 0 0 461 196 66 >3 yrs / 9 0 2 0 10 2013 5.5 1,003 2014 5.5 850 2015 5.6 834 2016 6.0 827 long term roll costs 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400.000 200.000 0 IiiiIi R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 AVERAGE 5.9 1015 TOTAL 730 6 60 30 1 827 age of case matrix Full Time Firefighter Volunteer ycc Others