An Assessment of the Safety Program within the Department of Interior US Geological Survey

Abstract

The intent of the Occupational Safety and Health Act is to protect American workers from unsafe work environments and provide citizens safe access to America’s natural resources. The safety program of the Department of Interior US Geological Survey is evaluated through qualitative analysis of secondary survey data. The comment data came from 6 years of employee opinion surveys about the USGS safety program. Funding, communication, leadership and management, and program awareness need improvement which will in turn improve the other 12 categories identified by the survey participants. Further effort needs to be made to improve the overall safety program within the US Geological Survey.