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SAFETY AND HEALTH AWARDS PROGRAM

FIELD INSTRUCTIONAL NOTICE

Originating Office: Office of Occupational Safety and Health

1.1 General. The Department of the Interior (DOI or Department) Safety and Health Award of Excellence provides non-monetary recognition to employees and organizations of the Department. This award is the most prestigious safety and health recognition that can be granted by the Department for exceptional safety and health program accomplishments that supports the Department mission.

A.  The DOI Convocation ceremony to honor award recipients will be held annually in May on the Thursday of Public Service Week, unless otherwise announced.

B. Employees at all grade levels are eligible to be nominated for the safety and health award in accordance with the established criteria.

C. Safety and health award nominations shall be initiated by completing form DI-451, Award Certification and submitted through supervisory channels to the appropriate bureau awards coordinator for review and coordination for Bureau Director’s or Commissioner’s signatory approval.

D. Safety and health award submission deadlines will be strictly enforced by the Department and as such must be monitored by bureau awards coordinators and bureau safety and health mangers to assure deserving nominees receive timely recognition.

1.2 Safety and Health Award. Detailed information about the DOI Safety and Health Award program can be found in 485 DM 10, Safety Management Awards. However, this “instructional notice” will serve as Departmental safety and health award program guidance until the revisions of 485 DM 10, Safety Management Awards are surnamed and posted on Electronic Library of the Interior Policies (a.k.a. ELIPS) as official DOI policy. The safety and health award given by the Department is the Safety and Health Award of Excellence.

(a) Safety and Health Award of Excellence. Presented annually by the Secretary of the Interior at the Award Convocation, it is the highest-level safety and occupational health award granted by the DOI. The Safety and Health Award of Excellence recognizes individuals or organizations that have performed an outstanding service for, or made a contribution of unusual value to the safety and health of employees, visitors and volunteers. The accomplishments of the individual or organization contribute toward the establishment of a safe and healthful environment within the Department of the Interior that build a culture that contributes to the Department’s Safety and Occupational Health’s strategic goals.

(b) The Safety and Health Award of Excellence nominees’ recognized activity must have had a positive safety and health program influence beyond the bureau or office boundaries, and possibly recognized DOI wide as a best management practice or had been adopted by the DOI. The nominees’ recognized safety and health program activity must have been demonstrated, during the calendar year prior to the year of the awards Convocation ceremony (e.g., only calendar year 2014 performance to be recognized during the 2015 Convocation ceremony or when scheduled), outstanding performance and produced significant results that align with the established criteria and has met at least one or more of the DOI’s Strategic Safety and Occupational Health Plan goals described in 1.4 E. Tables A-C contains more detailed recipient category information. Note: submitted performance that extends beyond the requested calendar (e.g., 2013 performance carried over into 2014 year for recognition in the 2015 ceremony) will not be considered for recognition at the Department level with those submissions being returned back to the bureau or office for recognition at that or other level within the nominating bureau or office.

Table A. Safety and Health Award of Excellence – Individual

Title / Administration / Award
Safety and Health Award of Excellence / Award, Recognition, or Award Activity / Plaque presented at Convocation by the Secretary or his or representative.
Eligible Participants / DOI Employees
Criteria / ·  Creating a health and safety culture inclusive of all senior leaders, managers, employees and activities; or
·  Significantly improving ability to identify and abate hazards; this must be a minimum of a bureau best practice that was shared department-wide; or
·  Implementing effective safety and health resourcing strategies; demonstrated by partnering or cost sharing between bureaus/offices; or,
·  Facilitating safety accountability and improvement through comprehensive evaluation and monitoring practices; demonstrated by deficiency finding reductions greater than 25%; or
·  Increasing health and safety program communications; demonstrated by at least a 10% annual Total Case Rate or Lost Time Case Rate reduction, or
·  Safety and health program contribution is of significant value that has advanced the overall DOI safety and health program; demonstrated by bureau adoption of the individual’s contribution and the bureau has shared it throughout the department as a best management practice
Considerations / ·  Managers and supervisors who have implemented the DOI safety and health program within their jurisdiction in an outstanding manner; demonstrated by developing appropriate written policies, plans, procedures or programs and have been adopted by the bureau or shared as a best management practice departmentally
·  Employees whose primary work is not in safety and health but whose superior accomplishments have advanced the cause of safety and health
·  Employees with full-time or collateral duty safety and health responsibilities who have achieved outstanding results in furthering safety and health
Other elements or information / ·  This award recognizes and demonstrates management’s high regard for the DOI employees who have made unusual and significant contributions toward the achievement of positive results in the advancement of DOI’s safety and health program
·  The DOI OSH will purchase the safety award plaque presented at Convocation
·  Travel for individuals to attend Convocation will be the responsibility of the nominating bureau or office


Table B. Safety and Health Award of Excellence – Group

Title / Administration / Award
Safety and Health Award of Excellence (Group) / Award, Recognition, or Award Activity / Plaque presented at Convocation by the Secretary or his or her representative.
Eligible Participants / DOI Employees or Volunteers
Criteria / ·  Creating a health and safety culture inclusive of all senior leaders, managers, employees and activities; or
·  Significantly improving ability to identify and abate hazards; this must be a minimum of a bureau best practice that was shared department-wide; or
·  Implementing effective safety and health resourcing strategies; demonstrated by partnering or cost sharing between bureaus/offices; or,
·  Facilitating safety accountability and improvement through comprehensive evaluation and monitoring practices; demonstrated by deficiency finding reductions greater than 25%; or
·  Increasing health and safety program communications; demonstrated by at least a 10% annual Total Case Rate or Lost Time Case Rate reduction, or
·  Safety and health program contribution is of significant value that has advanced the overall DOI safety and health program; demonstrated by bureau adoption of the group’s contribution and the bureau has shared that contribution throughout the department as a best management practice
Considerations / ·  All DOI bureau committees, groups, teams, or collective work units are eligible for the award as a group of individuals
·  A group of employees whose primary work is not in safety and health but whose superior accomplishments have advanced the cause of safety and health within the nominating bureau
Other elements or information / ·  This is the highest level group safety and health award granted by DOI. This award recognizes groups that have performed an outstanding service for or made a contribution of unusual value to the overall DOI safety and health program
·  The DOI OSH will purchase the safety award plaque presented at Convocation; providing additional safety award plaques for individual group members will be the responsibility of the nominating bureau or office
·  Travel for individuals to attend Convocation will be the responsibility of the nominating bureau or office

Table C. Safety and Health Award of Excellence - Organizational

Title / Administration / Award
Safety and Health Award of Excellence (Organizational) / Award, Recognition, or Award Activity / Plaque presented at Convocation by the Secretary or his or her representative.
Eligible Participants / Any work unit within DOI, a bureau, or office.
Criteria / ·  Creating a health and safety culture inclusive of all senior leaders, managers, employees and activities that strives for prevention of accidents that cause injuries or fatalities; or
·  Significantly improving the organization’s ability to identify and abate unsafe conditions and practices; demonstrated by sharing best management practices department-wide; or
·  Implementing innovative work practices that enhance the organization’s safety and health program; demonstrated by measurable improvements against organizational goals; or
·  Implementing effective safety and health resourcing strategies; demonstrated by partnering or cost sharing between bureaus/offices; or
·  Facilitating safety accountability and improvement through comprehensive evaluation and monitoring practices; demonstrated by annual deficiency finding reductions greater than 25%; or
·  Safety and health program contribution is of significant value that has advanced the overall DOI safety and health program; demonstrated by bureau sharing throughout the department as an effective best management practice
Considerations / ·  Any organizational unit within the DOI, bureau, or office is eligible to receive the award (e.g., bureaus, bureau or office committees, groups, teams, or collective work units)
·  The organization’s endeavors must have contributed to the establishment of a safe and healthy DOI environment by building a culture of safety that has moved the DOI toward the goal of zero loss of human or material resources
Other elements or information / ·  This award is presented to organizations for outstanding safety and health program achievement. The award recognizes organizations that have made a safety and health contribution of unusual value to the Departmental Safety and Health program
·  The DOI OSH will purchase the safety award plaque presented at Convocation; requests for additional safety award plaques for the organization will be the responsibility of the nominating bureau or office
·  Travel for the organizational representative to attend Convocation will be the responsibility of the nominating bureau or office

1.3 Responsibility. Bureaus and offices are strongly encouraged to establish mechanisms, such as an awards committee, to ensure a fair and consistent approach is applied in the review, evaluation, and recommendation of the award nomination. These mechanisms should also provide oversight of equity and cultural diversity to ensure that employees at all levels of the organization, who meet the high standards required for these honors, are considered for the safety award.

1.3.1. DOI Safety and Health Awards Committee. The DOI Office of Occupational Safety and Health will be responsible for determining the membership of the DOI safety and health awards committee. An awards committee will typically be formed from representatives of the DOI Occupational Safety and Health Council and any employee participation deemed appropriate by DOI OSH.

(a)  The DOI Safety Awards Committee are responsible for:

(1) Reviewing nominations provided by the DOI Awards/Convocation Coordinator and/or the Office of Occupational Safety and Health.

(2) Recommending to the DOI Awards/Convocation Coordinator those award packages that warrant the DOI Safety and Health Award Excellence and those safety and health award packages to be returned back to the bureaus or offices that do not meet DOI Safety and Health Award of Excellence criteria.

(3) Assisting the DOI Award/Convocation Coordinator with requested information for Convocation ceremonies or assisting with the Convocation awards ceremonies on an as needed basis.

1.4 Requirements for Nominations for Awards.

A. Any employee may recommend a safety award recipient by completing an Award Certification Form (DI-451) and submitting the form to the recipient’s supervisor for concurrence and transmittal through to the bureau awards coordinator to the approving official.

B. Before final approval of a safety award, the bureau’s servicing human resources office must ensure that there is no derogatory information in the nominee’s Official Personnel Folder (OPF). Potential derogatory information may include issues such as discriminatory actions, garnishment orders, suitability and security findings.

C. Bureau servicing human resources offices are also required to check with their bureau’s Office of Civil Rights, the Departmental Office of Civil Rights, the Departmental Ethics Office, and the Office of Inspector General to determine whether there are any known findings of discrimination, wrongdoing, or other derogatory information resulting from investigations on the proposed awardees.

D. In concert with Departmental Honor Awards, all potential derogatory information will be forwarded to the Departmental Office of Human Resources for evaluation to determine if there is justification to disapprove the safety award. As with all Honor Awards, in this evaluation the Office of Human Resources will consider recentness, seriousness, relationship to the award, notoriety and impact of the incident, and other relevant factors. The determination will be forwarded to the bureau.

E. The safety award nominees must have met the established criteria outlined in tables A-C and have demonstrated outstanding performance and produced significant results that align with at least one or more of the DOI’s Strategic Safety and Occupational Health Plan goals summarized below (the full text of the Plan is available on SafetyNet at: http://www.doi.gov/safetynet/information/general/strategic_plan/index.html

DOI’s Strategic Safety and Occupational Health Plan goals are:

(a) Enhance the role of leadership and management in promoting a culture of safety.

(b) Enhance employee inclusion, participation, and engagement in achieving safety and health commitments.

(c) Prevent exposure to hazards and mitigate risk through recognition and prevention programs and processes.

(d) Enhance internal evaluation and analysis processes to validate the effectiveness of the safety and health program.

(e) Improve occupational safety and health training and awareness throughout the department.

(f) Implement and continuously improve the occupational safety and health program.

1.5 Nominating Procedures. All safety award nominations should be submitted in a timely manner. The DI-451 and recipient photo that meets the photographic requirements listed in the Appendix to this chapter must be used to compile the safety award nomination package for the Safety and Health Award of Excellence.

(a)  Nomination Process.

(1) The Bureau or Office Awards Coordinators will assure the safety award nomination packet contains a full citation narrative, a digital photograph of the nominee, and a short summary paragraph (not to exceed 350 characters with spaces) of the nominee’s award work for inclusion in the Convocation program.