The Postal Service issued guidance and direction to employees on a wide variety of safety and health issues. Through mandatory safety talks, videos, and publications, employees were apprised of how to avoid injuries and illness. The Safety Depends on Me video campaign, part of the Postal Service's overall employee safety and health communication program, provides employees with safety and health information.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) injury and illness frequency rate for the Postal Service is 6.3 per 100 employees. This is down 11.3 percent from last year and equates to 8,637 fewer OSHA injuries and illnesses. In the past three years the Postal Service has reduced the total number of OSHA injuries and illnesses by 25,407, a 36 percent reduction.

The Postal Service motor vehicle accident frequency rate is 10.41 per million miles. Despite significantly worse weather, this is down 2.9 percent from last year and equates to 252 fewer motor vehicle accidents. In the past three years the Postal Service has reduced its total number of motor vehicle accidents by 2,938, an 11 percent reduction.

The postal Safety and Health Program continued involvement with emergency preparedness improvements, as well as with safety requirements mandated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

h. Voluntary Protection Program

The Postal Service continued to partner with OSHA to implement its prestigious Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) in postal facilities. OSHA awards this exclusive recognition only to those facilities that have implemented the best safety and health programs in industry. A key benefit of this program is improved employee relations that result from the cooperative involvement of management, OSHA, and the unions working together in its implementation.

To date the Postal Service has 18 worksites approved in the program, 29 sites in process, and 71 interested. A goal of 85 sites has been established for 2005.

The VPP process is being implemented through the national, area, and local Joint Labor-Management Safety Committees. The decision to enter into the VPP process is a joint decision made between the unions and the Postal Service at the local level.

The Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process (ERRP), supported by the Ergonomic Strategic Partnership process is designed to accomplish the following goals at participating Postal Service worksites:

• Improve the safety and health environment so that OSHA, the Postal Service, National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), and APWU can work together to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by identifying tasks and conditions where MSD incidents can occur and develop and implement ergonomic control processes.

• Provide training on ERRP to employees.

• Reduce the number of days away from work for both lost workday and restricted duty cases and share best practices.

The process was implemented in 53 sites in 2003 and 2004. It will be implemented in 32 sites in 2005, 40 sites in 2006, 40 sites in 2007, and 11 sites in 2008.

At the end of 2004 the Postal Service trained more than 40,073 employees at 53 sites. Of the total, approximately 5,000 were managers. The rest were from the clerk, mail handler, maintenance, and vehicle services areas.

Also in 2004, 1,650 task analyses were conducted in order to identify opportunities. Consequently, 596 fixes and 293 quick-fixes (completed within five days, from task analysis to completion) were implemented locally at little or no cost.

The Customer Service ERRP Pilot was successfully implemented in Albany, NY. The goal of the pilot has been to develop a viable process for customer service similar to the programs developed in plants.

j. Injury Compensation

In 2004 the Postal Service had an increase in workers' compensation chargeback from Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) of approximately $5.3 million (less than one percent) above 2003 for a total cash payout of $897.4 million compared to $892.1 million in 2003. This total includes all Postal Service, Post Office Department, and administrative costs for the chargeback year.

The Postal Service continues to work closely with the OWCP to place injured employees who cannot be accommodated within the Postal Service into private sector assignments. In 2004 the program resulted in either the outplacement, retirement, or reduction in compensation payments for 188 employees.