In the fiscal year of 2009, more than 79,000 new claims and over $1.6 billion in workers’ compensation payments were filed (Excluding those employed by the U.S. Postal Service). Although the Federal Government has made significant progress in reducing workplace injuries and illnesses over the past decade, President Obama declared in a memorandum on July 19th, 2010 that he is currently working to establish a four year initiative tentatively titled the “Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment (POWER) Initiative” which would span from 2011 until 2014. The purpose of this initiative is to:
Set higher targets for performance standards
Establish a more efficient method of data collection and analysis in regards to the cause and effect of severe injury and illness frequency
Prioritize safety and health management programs that have worked effectively in years prior
As of yet, President Obama has not gone into detail regarding these changes, though does mention that there will be seven areas in which each executive department/agency will be expected to improve upon its performance:
Reducing total injury and illness case rates
Reducing lost time injury and illness case rates
Analyzing lost time injury and illness data
increasing the filing of workers’ compensation claims in a timely manner
increasing the filing of wage-loss claims in a timely manner
Reducing lost production day rates
expediting an employee’s return to work in cases of serious injury or illness
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