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Workplace Safety and Health: OSHA Should Take Steps to Better Identify and Address Ergonomic Hazards at Warehouses and Delivery Companies
GAO-24-106413
Oct 08, 2024
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5 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health ensures that OSHA compliance officers can easily obtain data during inspections on when musculoskeletal disorders occurred. This could include adding a column for musculoskeletal injuries to OSHA recordkeeping forms. (Recommendation 1)
Open
OSHA stated that inserting this column remains on its long-term regulatory agenda. However, OSHA also stated that completing the regulatory actions necessary to add such a column would divert resources from other current regulatory priorities. The agency also commented that it expects to receive more information on musculoskeletal and other injuries from certain employers who have been required to report case-level injury data electronically to OSHA headquarters since March 2024. In February 2025, DOL confirmed this status continues. We will await further updates on the use of additional information during inspections.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health increases training on identifying and assessing ergonomic hazards for compliance officers who inspect worksites under OSHA's National Warehouse and Distribution Center Emphasis Program. This may include making elective ergonomic courses required courses for some officers; adding new courses or ergonomic components to existing courses; or making existing courses more accessible, for example, by increasing their frequency or offering them online. (Recommendation 2)
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OSHA said that some of the recommendations in our report may help better protect warehouse and delivery workers from ergonomic hazards; while other parts of the recommendations may not be practical to implement due to resource constraints. OSHA did not provide specific comments on this recommendation: we await further information from the agency.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health review and make needed changes to OSHA's internal and publicly available guidance that compliance officers and employers use to identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards. This may include clarifying existing guidance and providing more current, industry-specific guidance. (Recommendation 3)
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OSHA stated that it plans to review its publicly available ergonomic guidance in fiscal year 2025, updating it when warranted and when resources are available to do so. However, OSHA disagreed that there is a need for industry-specific ergonomic guidance for warehousing and delivery work, stating that it prioritizes industry-specific ergonomic guidance for industries with unique hazards. Our recommendation included issuing industry-specific guidance as one potential approach OSHA could pursue. As OSHA reviews its publicly available ergonomic guidance, it may wish to consider other approaches to ensure that compliance officers and employers have access to improved, updated guidance that allows them to identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health conducts timely follow-up with establishments that were issued an ergonomic hazard alert letter, as required by OSHA policy, to determine if establishments have taken corrective actions. This may include regional offices developing formal procedures for tracking ergonomic hazard alert letters. (Recommendation 4)
Open
OSHA said that some of the recommendations in our report may help better protect warehouse and delivery workers from ergonomic hazards; while other parts of the recommendations may not be practical to implement due to resource constraints. OSHA did not provide specific comments on this recommendation: we await further information from the agency.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health: (1) formally evaluates how well OSHA's national emphasis program for warehouses and distribution centers helps compliance officers identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards; and (2) determines and documents next steps to correct any deficiencies detected. (Recommendation 5)
Open
OSHA said that some of the recommendations in our report may help better protect warehouse and delivery workers from ergonomic hazards; while other parts of the recommendations may not be practical to implement due to resource constraints. In February 2025, DOL reported no further action for now.

Service Members Transitioning to Civilian Life: Agencies Can Improve Warm Handovers for Additional Assistance
GAO-24-106248
Mar 21, 2024
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should develop a written plan to analyze its available Transition Assistance Program data to identify reasons why transitioning service members who should receive a warm handover are not receiving one, and take appropriate action to collect additional warm handover data. Actions could include requiring Transition Assistance Program officials to provide an explanation when not providing a warm handover. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. In May 2024, DOD noted that it will take actions to leverage data collection from interagency partners and others to better understand when a warm handover is not provided by TAP officials. DOD indicated that it plans to update its TAP Evaluation Plan with a written analysis regarding warm handovers, modify its TAP data collection form to require reasons why transitioning service members who should receive warm handovers are not receiving one, and provide support for officials involved in data collection. DOD estimated that it will complete these efforts by September 2026.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should develop a process to regularly request updated online contact information from receiving agencies, including VA and DOL, to help ensure that Transition Assistance Program officials can connect service members with agency programs through warm handovers. (Recommendation 2)
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DOD agreed with this recommendation. In May 2024, DOD stated that it will leverage its data sharing agreements with receiving agencies, including VA and DOL, to facilitate regular updates to online contact information from warm handover partnering agencies. DOD said it will conduct quarterly reviews of online contact information and update and disseminate changes during its TAP Coordinating Council and Transition Work Group meetings. DOD estimated that it will complete these efforts by March 2025.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should develop additional guidance to commanders and their designees on verifying warm handovers and on recording the verifications in the Transition Assistance Program database. (Recommendation 3)
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DOD agreed with this recommendation. In May 2024, DOD said that the TAP Interagency Governance Structure is developing a course and written Commander's guide to better educate commanders and their designees on the importance of verifying warm handovers and recording the verifications in the TAP database. DOD plans to develop the commander guidance by March 2025 and incorporate it into the course by June 2025.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with interagency partners, such as DOL and VA, should develop a plan to assess the helpfulness of warm handovers as a part of its overall assessment of the Transition Assistance Program. (Recommendation 4)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. In May 2024, DOD said it plans to integrate a written analysis to assess the efficacy of warm handover data into the existing TAP Evaluation Plan. This will be done through the interagency Performance Management Work Group, which includes representatives from DOD, DOL, and VA, among other agencies. According to DOD, this updated plan would include an assessment of the overall helpfulness of warm handovers. DOD estimates that it will complete this action by March 2025.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should develop and implement a process to share information and findings on the helpfulness of warm handover from partner agencies with military service branches, including Transition Assistance Program counselors and other stakeholders. (Recommendation 5)
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DOD agreed with this recommendation. In May 2024, DOD said it will provide opportunities for interagency partners to share information and findings on the helpfulness of warm handovers with military service officials on a quarterly basis. DOD also said it will leverage the Strategic Communications Work Group to communicate and distribute the information and findings directly to military services through products, social media campaigns, and meeting agendas and minutes. DOD estimates that it will provide quarterly information sharing opportunities by September 2025 and communicate and distribute information and findings by June 2025.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs coordinates with DOL and VA through the Transition Assistance Program interagency partnership to identify criteria and standards for the ENPP and TSMRC pilot projects to determine whether and how to scale the piloted approaches into the overall warm handover process. (Recommendation 6)
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In May 2024, DOD said it partially concurred with this recommendation. DOD said it will coordinate with DOL and VA through the Transition Executive Committee (TEC) on the TSMRC implementation plan, and it will assist DOL in developing an implementation plan for ENPP. These plans will outline the criteria and standards for scaling these projects. DOD also said that it will update the TAP memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support these efforts. DOD estimates that it will coordinate and assist with these plans by September 2024 and update the MOU by March 2025.

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Greater Transparency Could Improve Worker Ratio Reports
GAO-24-106698
Feb 13, 2024
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs works with the CNMI government and, as appropriate, other U.S. agencies to determine what steps can be taken to improve transparency of the analytical approach CNMI uses to create its annual worker ratio report. Such steps could include communicating in greater detail, through CNMI's Standard Operating Procedure document and worker ratio report, the analytical approach CNMI took to categorize unknown workers as either U.S. or foreign, as well as the implications of the unknown portion for the ratio.
Open
The Department of the Interior concurred with this recommendation. In October 2024, Interior reported that the Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs had directed the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) to take steps to address the recommendation. These steps, which Interior described as underway, included the following: (1) Meeting with the CNMI government and federal partners to discuss the annual CNMI worker ratio report and how the federal government may assist with improving the data used to produce the report. (2) Communicating with CNMI regarding OIA grants that could potentially assist with improving transparency of the annual worker ratio report. (3) Reviewing CNMI's standard operating procedure document to assist with improving CNMI's process for developing the annual worker ratio report. We will continue to monitor Interior's actions to implement this recommendation.
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