Federal Manager's Daily Report

The IRS has a generally effective process for preventing and responding to workplace injuries, a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit has found.

Most injuries there are due to slips, trips, and falls, “and it appeared that most employees had accidents in which there was little the IRS could have done to prevent the injury,” a report said.

Auditors visited locations that accounted for more than a fifth of the agency’s injury claims in 2013-2015 and found that most injuries were caused by accidents that could not be prevented, and issues that contributed to preventable injuries had been remedied. Specifically, as part of a sample of 349 claims, TIGTA physically observed locations where 253 injuries occurred. It determined that only 13 hazards had not been addressed and could potentially affect other employees, the report said.

However, it also found that a third of the claims did not include any information about whether a safety investigation was performed, as required, after employees were injured. Also, safety officers were not always notified when an injury had occurred. “In these instances, it was not apparent what actions safety officers took to resolve hazards because that information was not documented on the IRS’s workers’ compensation database,” it said.

Further, there was no documentation of a safety inspection in at least one year during that period in two-thirds of the more than 500 IRS buildings. Such inspections are required by law and are designed to review a variety of building features to ensure that they are in working order, including lighting, walkways, elevators, shipping and receiving areas, parking lots, and exit doors.