Safety Program Decisions

To:       GS-W A, GS-W B, GS-W DC 
cc:       Thomas J Zembrzuski/WRD/USGS/DOI@USGS, Melvin Lew/WRD/USGS/DOI@USGS 
Subject:  Safety Program Decisions


FYI - the key point here is that Regional Safety Officers report to 
Regional Hydrologists.  Bob

**********************************************************
* Robert M. Hirsch   
* Associate Director for Water     
* 409 National Center                  rhirsch@usgs.gov
* U.S. Geological Survey                    703-648-5215
* Reston, VA 20192                         fax 703-648-7031
************************************************************ 
----- Forwarded by Robert M Hirsch/DO/USGS/DOI on 01/26/01 07:56 AM ----- Carol Aten 
	01/24/01 12:30 PM 	        
To:       elt 
cc:       elt sec, Timothy E Calkins/OPS/USGS/DOI@USGS, Janet L 
          Bishop/OPS/USGS/DOI@USGS, Martha K Burbidge/OPS/USGS/DOI@USGS, William F 
          Gossman/OPS/USGS/DOI@USGS, Bill R Miller/OPS/USGS/DOI@USGS 
Subject:  Safety Program Decisions


Hi all-- 
I wanted to let you know the outlines of the decisions by the Director and 
Deputy Director regarding the safety program proposal.  We will have a 
more formal document incorporating a description of specific roles and 
responsibilities soon.  Meanwhile . . . 

Overarching all the decisions is the objective of a more coordinated, 
integrated, and effective bureau safety program. 

At the regional level, the safety managers who have been on the staff of 
the Regional Executives for Water and Geology will continue to report to 
the regional executives, but will work in a matrixed relationship with the 
regional safety staffs in the offices of regional services to be part of a 
coordinated regional program.  Comparable positions will not be 
established on the staffs of the Regional Biologists or the Regional 
Geographers, those disciplines will continue to have their safety support 
provided by the region and headquarters safety staffs. 

There will be a bureau safety committee and the specialized safety 
committees (aviation, firearms, etc.).  Local and regional managers may 
establish standing or temporary committees as the see the need. 

No specific FTE decisions were made.  However, I will be looking at the 
headquarters safety staffing in relation to workload and the roles and 
responsibilities in general and certainly before I decide how we should 
use a current vacancy on that staff. 

Also, as I believe you all know, we also have pending a environmental 
compliance budget proposal for FY 02 which would fund an additional person 
for each of the regional safety staffs.  This would definitely provide 
some additional critically needed resources for this function. 

Thank you all for you assistance and thoughtful comments. 

Carol