DOL Strategic Plan Sets Lofty Safety Goals
The 2016 target for federal agencies' rate for lost-time injuries and illnesses is 1.07, which is a 27 percent improvement from 2009's 1.48, according to the DOL plan.
The U.S. Department of Labor's 2011-2016 strategic plan includes charts of performance measures on which OSHA and MSHA will be judged, including fatalities in construction and general industry caused by the four leading causes -- falls, electrocutions, caught by or in between, and struck by cases. Annual deaths from those causes would remain above 500 for construction and at 679 for general industry if the 2016 goals are met, better than the 2009 totals of 571 and 743, respectively, but still high.
The 2016 goal for federal agencies' rate for lost-time injuries and illnesses is 1.07, which represents a 27 percent improvement from 2009's 1.48, according to the DOL plan. The 2016 goal is 8,169 amputation hazards abated in general industry and construction, versus 7,197 abated in 2009.
The plan's 2016 goals for MSHA include a 0.0125 rate of fatal injuries per 200,000 hours worked. The 2009 rate was 0.0180, so the goal is a 30 percent improvement.
The plan is only being offered online. DOL also has posted additional material about it, including a description of how its agencies' performance will be measured.