GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

September 26, 2013

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa

Chairman

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

House of Representatives

U.S. Postal Service: Information on Workforce Injuries Arising During Mail Delivery

Dear Mr. Chairman:

According to United States Postal Service (USPS) officials, USPS employee injuries are largely 

due to the often physically demanding, industrial, and highly repetitive nature of their work. Mail 

carriers—who delivered mail to nearly 132 million delivery points nationwide in fiscal year 20121

—can be injured while delivering mail in a number of ways, for example by being bitten by a dog 

or being involved in a vehicle collision. According to USPS officials, in fiscal year 2012 there 

were 32,213 injuries for the entire postal workforce of nearly 630,000 employees,2 of which 

11,717 (36 percent) occurred during mail delivery.3 The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act 

(FECA) program provides for cash benefits and medical benefits to eligible federal employees 

who suffer temporary or permanent disabilities resulting from work-related injuries or illnesses. 

FECA cash benefits include payments for wages lost when employees cannot work because of 

work-related disabilities due to traumatic injuries or occupational illnesses.4 Medical benefits can 

include vocational rehabilitation and medical care for injured workers. Like other federal 

agencies, USPS pays its workers’ compensation costs through the federal workers’

compensation program administered by the Department of Labor. USPS’s workers’ 

compensation costs have increased in recent years. USPS’s workers’ compensation expense 

for fiscal year 2012 was $3.7 billion, compared to $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2009, a 68 percent 

increase.5

As we have previously reported, USPS is in a serious financial crisis and has not generated 

sufficient revenue to cover its expenses and financial obligations as mail volume continues to 

 1

Post Office Boxes comprise about an additional 20 million delivery points. According to USPS, mail delivery to Post 

Office boxes is generally performed by clerks and is not the same delivery function as delivering mail to a centralized 

mailbox outside of a Post Office.

2

Unless otherwise noted, year references are for fiscal year.

3

According to USPS, its employees filed a total of 43,268 claims in fiscal year 2012 with the Department of Labor’s 

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, which includes injuries, illnesses, and non-injuries.

4

5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq.; 20 C.F.R. Part 10.

5

USPS reported in its 2012 Form 10-K report that the various components of the total workers’ compensation 

expense includes the impact of discount rate changes, actuarial reevaluations of existing cases, the costs of new 

cases, and administrative fees.
Page 2 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

decline.6 In its Five-Year Business Plan issued in April 2013, USPS stated that there has been a 

25 percent decline in mail volume that, despite regular price increases, has reduced annual 

revenue by about $10 billion since fiscal year 2007. According to USPS, the agency needs to 

save up to $20 billion annually over the next 5 years to help it regain financial self-sufficiency. 

USPS proposed initiatives in the Five-Year Business Plan to help it achieve these cost savings, 

nearly half of which, according to USPS, will require legislative action. Some of the USPSproposed initiatives focus on mail delivery, which is USPS’s largest expense, costing about $23 

billion and representing about 49 percent of USPS’s personnel costs for fiscal year 2012. For 

example, USPS proposed delivery-related cost savings initiatives, including expanding the 

centralization of delivery points, to help save $1.0 billion in 2014.

7 Recent legislative proposals 

for postal reform in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate also 

consider provisions that include the expansion of centralized delivery points to achieve cost 

savings.8

You asked us to review available information on injures related to mail delivery. This letter 

addresses postal workforce injuries and other health issues arising from different types of mail 

delivery routes. We have another ongoing review that will report separately on the other 

questions raised in your request letter, including the costs and barriers of different mail delivery 

modes.

Scope and Methodology

We obtained available USPS data and interviewed USPS officials on injuries related to mail 

delivery. USPS collects data on workforce injuries using an electronic “Accident Report” form 

with standardized codes.9 The main responsibility for the initial accident report lies with the 

supervisor and affected employee, and the form itself is completed by an injured employee’s 

supervisor. The form is to be reviewed by a senior manager and headquarters staff in an effort 

to assure accurate reporting and help minimize data entry errors. In addition, agency officials 

said that internal audits (performed by USPS safety staff) and external audits (performed by the 

Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)) are conducted 

to ensure the accuracy of data reported on the Accident Report form. Codes and associated 

data on injuries that occur during mail delivery by different route types, including those 

performed on foot and those performed in vehicles, are to be included on the Accident Report 

form.10

 6

GAO, U.S. Postal Service: Urgent Action Needed to Achieve Financial Sustainability, 

For example, supervisors are to note on the form the circumstances leading to an 

GAO-13-562T (Washington, 

D.C.: Apr. 17, 2013); and High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-13-283 (Washington, D.C.: February 2013).

7

Other delivery-related cost savings initiatives that USPS proposed in its Five Year Business Plan include delivery 

optimization (i.e., consolidating some facilities and routes) and capturing reduced volume and workload (i.e., better 

matching workloads to current mail volumes).

8

See e.g., Postal Reform Act of 2013, H.R., 2748, 113th Cong. (2013); Postal Reform Act of 2013, S. 1486, 113th 

Cong. (2013).

9

In its Accident Report, USPS refers to two types of employment-related injuries: traumatic injuries and occupational 

illnesses. For the purposes of this report, we refer to both types of employment-related injuries as “injuries” except in 

cases where the Accident Report makes a distinction between injuries and illnesses.

10USPS officials told us that the classification of route type on the Accident Report form is determined by the 

employee and supervisor completing the form, and may vary from the route type as classified by USPS’s Delivery 

Operations. For example, mail carriers assigned to park-and-loop routes by Delivery Operations might report their 

injuries occurred on a foot route because they were injured on the walking part of their route. All information on 
Page 3 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

injury—such as a dog bite, falls from porches, or vehicle collisions—as well as the severity of 

the injury—ranging from no injury to death—using standardized codes. Not all fields on the 

Accident Report form, including codes that would identify the route type, are required to be 

completed. We obtained 2009 through 2012 USPS data on workforce injuries by various route 

types (as classified by USPS’s Office of Safety and Health, Employee Resource Management), 

including data on the frequency, circumstance leading to injury, the severity of injuries, and the 

nature of the most severe injury. Because the circumstance, severity, and nature of the most 

severe injury are spread across numerous codes, we provide only the most frequently reported 

(top three) codes for these variables. For example, for injuries occurring in 2012 on routes that 

are primarily conducted on foot, circumstances leading to injury were reported using 39 different 

codes. These circumstances leading to injury ranged from less than 1 percent (for being struck 

by flying objects) to about 17 percent (for dog bites). We analyzed these data, assessed their 

reliability—for example, we reviewed related documentation and interviewed knowledgeable 

agency officials—and determined that USPS’s data on injuries occurring during mail delivery 

were reliable for providing descriptive information on postal workforce injuries by route type for 

these fiscal years.

We conducted this performance audit from June 2013 to September 2013 in accordance with 

generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and 

perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained 

provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Results in Brief

In fiscal year 2012, there were 32,213 reported injuries, 11,717 (36 percent) of which were 

sustained by carriers delivering mail on three different types of routes as specified on USPS’s 

Accident Report form: foot routes, rural routes, and park-and-loop routes. According to USPS’s 

2012 data, the most frequently reported cause of injury for routes that are primarily conducted 

on foot is dog bites, while the most frequently reported cause of injury for delivery on rural 

routes—which is often conducted in vehicles—is vehicular collisions. Additionally, USPS’s data 

indicate that most injuries that occurred from 2009 through 2012 on mail delivery routes were 

caused by falls and dog bites. Falls to the ground were among the most common circumstances 

leading to injury that resulted in either restricted work activity or days away from work, but 

repetitive motions were the most common cause of long-term occupational illnesses regardless 

of severity or route type.

Background

As categorized in USPS’s Accident Report, postal employees, including mail carriers, generally 

sustain two types of employment-related injuries: traumatic injuries and occupational illnesses. 

Traumatic injuries are linked to a specific event, such as when a mail carrier trips and falls while 

delivering mail. In contrast, occupational illnesses can develop from prolonged workplace 

exposures and repetitive motion activities, such as when a mail carrier develops a back, 

shoulder, or rotator cuff injury by repeatedly twisting and stretching to reach mail in the back of 

the delivery vehicle.

 injuries by route type that GAO reports throughout this correspondence reflects the route type as reported on the 

Accident Report form.
Page 4 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

FECA provides for cash benefits to eligible federal employees who suffer temporary or 

permanent disabilities resulting from occupational-related injuries or illnesses. The U.S. 

Department of Labor’s Division of Federal Employees’ Compensation in the Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs administers the FECA program and charges federal agencies for 

which the injured employees worked for the benefits provided to those injured employees. We 

have previously reported that a large proportion of FECA beneficiaries were employed by USPS 

at the time of their injury—43 percent of 2010 FECA beneficiaries were USPS employees, 

accounting for over 130,000 employees.11 We have also reported that USPS has aggressively 

pursued the return of employees to work as soon as possible as a means to help employees 

recover more quickly and stay up-to-date with workplace changes, and to reduce USPS’s costs 

for workers’ compensation.12

USPS has stated that it is committed to the safety and health of all its employees. USPS noted 

in its fiscal year 2011 annual report that occupational-related injury rates were reduced by 

almost 50 percent over the previous 10 years. USPS’s reported illness and injury rate—an 

indicator of an agency’s safety record as reported to OSHA—has changed only slightly over the 

last few years (see table 1).13

Table 1: USPS’s OSHA Illness and Injury Rates for All Employees, 2009 to 2012

2009 2010 Change from previous 

year

2011 Change from previous 

year

2012 Change from previous 

year

Rate 5.62 5.49 2% decrease 5.67 3% increase 5.44 4% decrease

Source: GAO analysis of USPS data.

From 2009 through 2012, an average of 34,000 postal workforce injuries were reported each 

year, about 13,000 of which were attributed to mail delivery. USPS’s OSHA illness and injury 

rate for all USPS employees in 2012 was 5.44 per 100 employees. According to USPS, declines

in injury rates over the last decade are due to continued emphasis on safety by employees and 

management, including having safety as a part of management’s pay-for-performance 

evaluations, stressing development of Accident Reduction Plans, and completion of safety 

inspections, as well as timely abatement of identified deficiencies. However, despite recent 

declines in USPS’s OSHA illness and injury rate, the Congressional Research Service reported 

that USPS employees are injured on the job at rates disproportionate to the rest of the federal 

government.14

 11GAO, Federal Employees’ Compensation Act: Analysis of Proposed Changes on USPS Beneficiaries, 

For example, the Congressional Research Service’s report stated that although 

USPS employees make up about 22 percent of the federal workforce, they are responsible for 

GAO-13-

142R (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 26, 2012); and Federal Employees’ Compensation Act: Benefits for Retirement-Age 

Beneficiaries, GAO-12-309R (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 6, 2012).

12GAO, U.S. Postal Service: The Program for Reassessing Work Provided to Injured Employees Is Under Way, but 

Actions Are Needed to Improve Program Management, GAO-10-78 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 14, 2009).

13USPS noted the following in its fiscal year 2012 annual report to Congress: “The injury and illness rate is calculated 

using an industry-wide formula recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): ‘Total 

number of OSHA injuries and illnesses (multiplied) by 200,000 hours (divided) by the number of exposure hours 

worked by all employees. The 200,000 hours represents 100 employees working 2,000 hours per year. It provides 

the standard base for calculating incidence rates.’”

14Scott D. Szymendera, Congressional Research Service, The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA): 

Workers’ Compensation for Federal Employees, R42107 (Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2013).
Page 5 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

about 39 percent of the injuries, illnesses, and fatalities that resulted in FECA cases in fiscal 

year 2012.

Depending on the characteristics of a particular area, carriers deliver mail using different route 

types, including the following three route types specified on USPS’s Accident Report form: 

• Foot Route: The carrier walks to deliver mail and does not drive a vehicle. 

• Rural Route: A route served by rural carriers. Such carriers typically deliver mail to 

mailboxes at the curb and drive a vehicle.

• Park-and-Loop Route: A carrier parks the vehicle and walks out and back over one or 

more streets, delivering mail away from and looping back to the vehicle. 

USPS officials told us that the classification of route type on the Accident Report form is 

determined by the employee and supervisor completing the form and may vary from the route 

type as classified by USPS’s Delivery Operations office. For example, mail carriers assigned to 

park-and-loop routes by Delivery Operations might report their injuries occurred on a foot route 

because they were injured on the walking part of their route. All information on injuries by route 

type reported throughout this correspondence reflects the route type as reported on the 

Accident Report form.

Park-and-Loop Routes Had More Injuries Than Other Routes, with Falls and Dog Bites 

among the Most Frequently Reported Type of Injury for All Routes

Frequency of Injuries

Of the postal workforce injuries reported from 2009 through 2012, park-and-loop routes incurred 

a higher number of injuries than foot routes or rural routes (see fig. 1). For example, in fiscal 

year 2012, there were 11,717 injuries that occurred on all three route types: 7,675 on park-andloop routes (66 percent), 2,517 on rural routes (22 percent), and 1,525 on foot routes (13 

percent).15 Although the number of reported injuries by route type varied during 2009 through 

2012, park-and-loop routes always had the greatest number of injuries of the three route types. 

USPS officials told us that there are more injuries on park-and-loop routes than foot routes or 

rural routes because park-and-loop routes are the most prevalent route type.

 15Percentages do not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
Page 6 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

Figure 1: Number of Reported Injuries by Route Type, Fiscal Years 2009 to 2012

Circumstances Leading to Injury

USPS’s Accident Report form asks filers to use a set of codes to describe the circumstances 

leading to injury, such as falls from elevation, animals, or violence. We found that for all three 

route types we reviewed, falls to sidewalks or the ground and dog bites were among the most 

frequently reported circumstance leading to injury. Other circumstances leading to injury differed 

depending on the route type, for example:

• Foot Routes: For foot route injuries that occurred from 2009 through 2012, falls to 

sidewalks or the ground, dog bites, and other slips and trips were the most frequently 

reported circumstances leading to injury.

• Rural Routes: For rural route injuries that occurred from 2009 through 2012, vehicle 

collisions in which both vehicles were in motion, falls to sidewalks or the ground, and 

dog bites were the most frequently reported circumstance leading to injury.

• Park-and-loop Routes: For park-and-loop route injuries that occurred from 2009 through 

2012, falls to sidewalks or the ground, dog bites, and other slips and trips were the most 

frequently reported circumstances leading to injury.

Severity of Injury

Filers of USPS’s Accident Report are also provided with a set of codes to use in describing the 

severity of an injury, which has codes including no lost work time, days away from work, 

restricted work, or fatalities. We found that of the data we reviewed, the most common degree of 
Page 7 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

severity was the same regardless of route type. From 2009 through 2012 the most frequently 

reported severity of injury for all three route types was an injury with days away from work.

In fiscal year 2012, the most common circumstances leading to injury for each route type varied 

by route and by severity—particularly whether the accident resulted in traumatic injury or 

occupational illness. We found that for all three route types we reviewed, falls to the ground 

were among the most common circumstance leading to injury that resulted in either restricted 

work activity or days away from work. In addition, we found that repetitive motions were the 

most common cause of illness, regardless of severity or route type. Other circumstances 

causing the injury or illness differed depending on route type and severity, for example:

• Foot Routes: For foot route injuries that occurred in 2012 and resulted in days away from 

work or lost time, falls to the ground, falls on stairs, and dog bites were the most 

frequently reported circumstances leading to injury. In the same year, repetitive motions 

led to about 55 percent of illnesses that resulted in days away from work and about 70 

percent of illnesses that restricted work activity.

• Rural Routes: For rural route injuries that occurred in 2012 and resulted in days away 

from work or lost time, collisions with both vehicles in motion, collisions with a stationary 

object, and falls to the ground were the most frequently reported circumstances leading 

to injury. In the same year, repetitive motions led to about 65 percent of illnesses that 

resulted in days away from work and almost 50 percent of illnesses that restricted work 

activity.

• Park-and-loop Routes: For park-and-loop route injuries that occurred in 2012 and 

resulted in days away from work or lost time, falls to the ground, dog bites, and slipping 

or twisting were the most frequently reported circumstances leading to injury. In the 

same year, repetitive motions led to almost 60 percent of illnesses that resulted in days

away from work and about 60 percent of illnesses that restricted work activity.

Nature of the Most Severe Injury

Another field that filers of the Accident Report are to complete uses codes to describe the 

nature of the most severe injury caused by the accident; in essence, the code describes the 

outcome of the injury, such as contusions, strains, or tendonitis. We found that for those data 

we reviewed, the most common nature of injury was generally the same regardless of route 

type.16

Agency Comments

For example, from 2009 through 2012, strains, sprains, and animal or insect bites were 

among the most frequently reported most severe injuries caused by accidents for all three route 

types.

We provided a draft of this report to USPS and the agency did not have any comments.

---

 16The category “Other Injury” was among the most common nature of injury reported for foot routes in 2011 and for 

rural routes in 2010 through 2012.
Page 8 GAO-13-847R Mail Delivery Injuries

We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees, the Postmaster 

General, and other interested parties. In addition, this report will be made available at no charge 

on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-2834 or 

stjamesl@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs 

may be found on the last page of this report. Additionally, Teresa Anderson, Lorraine Ettaro, 

Geoffrey Hamilton, Jaclyn Nelson, and Daniel Paepke made key contributions to this report.

Sincerely yours,

Lorelei St. James

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues

(544198)
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