OSHA targets 100 most hazardous federal work sites

In an effort to reduce workplace injuries and their associated costs, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will focus its efforts on the 100 federal work sites with the highest injury and illness rates, OSHA officials announced last week.

In July, President Clinton asked asked agencies to reduce injuries at federal sites by 15 percent over five years. According to the White House, workplace injuries cost the government $1.9 billion a year in medical bills and disability compensation.

To help meet the goal, OSHA is trying to reduce the occurrence of injuries by 10 percent per year at the 100 federal work sites with the highest rates of serious injuries.

OSHA is targeting the following departments and agencies (the number of work sites on the list in each agency appears in parentheses):

• Defense (26)
• Justice (25)
• Interior (21)
• Treasury (13)
• Veterans' Affairs (6)
• Transportation (5)
• General Services Administration (3)
• Energy (1)
• Agriculture (1)

The reduction goal will be measured in terms of lost time case rates (LTCRs), which track the rate of injuries or illnesses resulting in lost work time per 100 employees. The baseline for improvement is the 1996 overall federal LTCR, which was 2.67. OSHA will target federal work sites with LTCRs two times the 1996 rate.

"This particular goal will challenge those federal agencies with the highest LTCRs to both improve their safety and health programs and lower their injury rates," OSHA officials said.

Two Immigration and Naturalization Service sites and two National Park Service sites will be particularly challenged by the goal. The INS site in San Diego, Calif. has an LTCR of 40.27, nearly 20 times that of the baseline, while another INS site in Genco, Ga. has a 35.86 LTCR. The Cape Lookout National Seashore in Harkers Island, N.C., and Cumberland Island National Seashore in Saint Marys, Ga., also have their work cut out for them. Those sites have LTCRs of 36.00 and 28.57 respectively.

OSHA will monitor accident rates and provide technical assistance to agencies to improve accident prevention efforts.

See if where you work is one of the 100 most dangerous federal work sites.