Performance Goal OWCP 4.1: Return to Work

Improve workers’ ability to return to work after an injury or illness.

Other Information:

With more than 2.8 million civilian employees, the federal government is the Nation’s largest employer. The cost of federal workplace injuries, when measured by FECA compensation costs for wage-loss, is nearly $3 billion and two million lost production days annually. For the past six years, OWCP and OSHA have led the Government-wide Safety, Health, and Return to Employment (SHARE) initiative to reduce federal workplace injury rates, increase the timely filing of new injury claims, and reduce lost production day rates. Since SHARE’s inception, the number of new FECA claims declined by over 20 percent – yielding significant cost savings to taxpayers and workers. On July 19, 2010, President Obama issued a memorandum launching the Presidential POWER Initiative: Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment. This four-year initiative replaces SHARE and: sets more aggressive performance targets; encourages the collection and analysis of data on the causes and consequences of frequent or severe injury and illness; and prioritizes safety and health management programs that have proven effective in the past. Through POWER, OSHA and OWCP will continue the focus on workplace safety and will stress an improvement in federal agencies’ results to reemploy injured workers using new strategies: • Research and employ return-to-work best practices; • Expand identification of job opportunities; • Use new placement practices; • Provide assistance to employers to increase job accommodations and light or limited duty jobs; • Remove disincentives for FECA claimants to return to work; and • Increase the use of assistive technologies. OWCP will monitor its progress through the following performance measures.

Stakeholder(s):

• Workers with Injuries or Illness

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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