Obama launches federal workplace safety initiative

President Barack Obama announced a four-year initiative as part of an effort to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses among federal employees.

Each executive department and agency included in the Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment Initiative is expected to reduce injury and illness rates, reduce lost-time rates, increase timely filing of workers' compensation claims, and return injured employees to work sooner, according to a presidential memorandum issued Monday.

Executive departments are instructed to coordinate with OSHA and the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs to set targets for each category.

Last fiscal year, federal government workers filed more than 79,000 new claims and received more than $1.6 billion in workers' comp payments, according to the memo.