BREAKING NEWS

As part of this year's DOI Safety and Health Week, the Main and South Interior Building’s "Safest Bureau" office inspection contest was held with offices from BIA, BOR, BLM, FWS, MMS, NPS, OSM, and USGS participating. Each submitted an "office," consisting of five to eight work stations for the competition. During the course of inspections, offices were allowed and encouraged to abate any safety hazards that were found. The competition included employee awareness about ergonomics, emergency readiness, and fire safety issues. This year’s winner, Office of Surface Mining received the Heinrich Pyramid Trophy at their annual safety staff meeting.

Each year, the office that wins the DOI Safest Bureau contest will earn the right to keep and display this trophy, the "Heinrich Pyramid," for one year. This award is named after Herbert William Heinrich, the American safety pioneer who developed the "accident pyramid" model back in the 1930s. After analyzing over 500,000 occupational accidents, Heinrich found that there is a constant ratio between fatal, light, and near accidents that follows a ratio of 1:29:300. In the late 1960s, Frank Bird Jr. confirmed this ratio after studying 1.7 million accidents. He found a ratio of 1:10:30:600 for fatalities-serious accidents- accidents-incidents. This accident pyramid model has been useful in predicting and reducing the number of serious accidents a company will have, by looking at how many light accidents and near-misses they have. The Heinrich Pyramid is the ideal shape for this contest's trophy, as it serves as a reminder to all of everyone that they can reduce the number of serious accidents by making sure the everyday work environments are as safe as possible.

What did your bureau or office do for Safety Week?

Welcome to SafetyNet

The Department of the Interior’s Occupational Health and Safety Program supports the Department’s Mission to protect and provide access to our Nation's natural and cultural heritage by:

Keeping employees and volunteers well,
Keeping employees and volunteers on the job, and
Reducing accident related losses.

IN FOCUS

Presidential Safety, Health and Return to Employment SCORECARD - First and Second Quarter, FY 2009

Presidential Safety, Health and Return to Employment SCORECARD First and Second Quarter, FY 2009
	IA	BLM	BOR	FWS	NPS	OSM	USGS	DOI Other	DOI	DOI Goal
Total Case Rate	5.94	5.50	4.22	4.94	7.34	0.76	2.16	1.34	5.12	5.64
Lost Time Case Rate	3.04	1.12	1.34	1.08	3.32	0.00	0.34	0.38	1.86	1.96
Timeliness	35.9	87.6	77.7	79.9	86.1	Not Avail	96.0	Not Avail	78.0	60.0
Lost Production Days	67.0	36.4	38.1	25.6	60.6	Not Avail	9.5	Not Avail	41.7	57.2

Total Case rate: Reduce the total number of injury and illness cases reported to the Office of Workers’ Compensation programs (OWCP) by 3%.

Lost Time Case Rate: Reduce the number of injury and illness cases where employees missed work reported to the Office of Workers’ Compensation programs (OWCP) by 3%.

Timeliness: Improve timeliness of filing workers’ compensation claims by 5%.

Lost Production Days: Reduce the rate of lost production days (days away from work due to work related injuries or illnesses) by 1%.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Training - ASSE Revises the ANSI/ASSE Z490.1-2009 Standard On Safety Training

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) recently announced the approval and availability of the newly revised American National Standard ANSI/ASSE Z490.1-2009 "Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training." The standard calls for qualified training to ensure that workers and safety, health, and environmental professionals have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to protect themselves and others in the workplace. The standard applies to a broad range of training and specifies how to adequately design, develop, deliver and evaluate training.

The standard covers all areas of training, including training development, delivery, evaluation and management of training and training programs. Criteria within the standard were developed by combining accepted practices in the training industry along with those in the safety, health and environmental profession.

The standard has annexes and references that provide additional information and detail. It is available in print and electronic format by contacting ASSE customer service at 847-699-2929 or customerservice@asse.org.

To purchase a copy of the American National Standard for Four Wheel All-Terrain Vehicles - Equipment, Configuration, and Performance Requirements (ANSI/SVIA 1 - 2007) please call (949) 727-3727, ext 3023 or click here.

Available in hard copy for $60.00 USD.
Available on CD or electronically for $360.00 USD.

ATV Standard

In 1985, the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America began development of a standard that established the requirements for equipment, configuration, and performance of four-wheel all-terrain vehicles in the United States. In 1990, the ANSI approved the first standard for all-terrain vehicles: ANSI/SVIA 1-2007. In 2001, the standard was revised to modify certain definitional language and add several provisions to enhance and clarify the standard. In 2007, the standard was updated to include definitions for Type I and Type II ATVs; new Y-10+ and T category ATVs; requirements of Type II ATV passenger handholds and footrests; new requirements for labels, owner’s manuals, hang tags; and a compliance certification label.

Copies of the standard are available through the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America.

OSHA seeking nominations for National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in the June 11, 2009, Federal Register that nominations are being accepted for persons to serve on the 12-member National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. Nominations will be accepted for representatives in the following categories: public, management, labor, occupational safety and occupational health. Members will serve a two-year term.

If submitting nominations by mail, hand delivery or messenger service, send three copies to the OSHA Docket Office, Room N-2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20210; telephone 202-693-2350. Nominations may be sent electronically to http://www.regulations.gov, the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or by facsimile at 202-693-1948. All nominations for NACOSH must include the agency name and docket number, OSHA-2009-0012. Nominations must be submitted no later than July 11, 2009.

Questions concerning the NACOSH nominations process can be addressed to Deborah Crawford at 202-693-1932 or crawford.deborah@dol.gov.

NACOSH was established under section 7(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to advise the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on matters relating to the administration of the Act.