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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

APHA Calls for US Asbestos Ban

The American Public Heath Association (APA) has called for a ban by Congress on the manufacture, sale, export, or import of asbestos containing products including products in which asbestos is a contaminant. Asbestos claims 10,000 American lives each year.

“As early as 1898, the British government factory inspectors recognized adverse health effects associated with exposure to asbestos fibers. By the 1930’s the scientific evidence was well established of the association between asbestos exposure and nonmalignant respiratory disease, and with the publication of Dr. Irving Selikoff’s study of insulation workers in 1964, the evidence of carcinogenicity was incontrovertible as well.”
“Despite the concerns of asbestos exporting countries and business interests of the mining industry, the scientific consensus today is that all types of asbestos fibers, including chrysotile, cause asbestosis, lung and other cancers, specifically mesothelioma. The magnitude of the public health problem presented by asbestos and its ubiquitous use during the last 50 years is revealed by death certificate data analyzed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH identified 2,485 deaths in the U.S. in 1999 in which malignant mesothelioma was listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death; and that during 1968--2005, asbestosis was identified as the underlying cause of death for 9,024 decedents, 13% of these were aged 25-64 years. These data undoubtedly underestimate the situation as asbestos-related disease can take 10 to 50 years to present. The estimated portion of lung cancer deaths attributed to asbestos exposure is 2-3 percent.”

During the 1950’s and 1960’s Dr Selikoff would testify in the NJ Division of Workers’ Compensation as a medical expert for injured workers. I had the privilege of knowing him and observing his efforts to assist injured workers and spread his scientific discoveries on the harmful effects of asbestos products.

It is shocking that in 2009 the US permits the use, manufacturing and distribution of asbestos containing products. It is certainly well passed the time to ban asbestos in the US.


Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Federal OSHA to Review State Safety Plans


In recent testimony before Congress, Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), reported that OSHA will be reviewing State safety programs.


"To improve oversight immediately, I sent interim guidance to OSHA regional administrators about the monitoring tools available to them and encouraged more in-depth investigation of potential problems," said Barab. "To ensure that deficiencies similar to those found in Nevada do not exist in any of the other state plans, OSHA will conduct a baseline evaluation, similar to what we conducted in Nevada, for every state that administers its own program. These evaluations will lead to better program performance and consistency throughout all state plans."





"We want to work together with the states and provide assistance before a state's program becomes deficient and causes worker deaths, injuries and illness," said Barab. "We are not trying to change the nature of our relationship between federal and state OSHA, but we need to speak with one voice and assure American workers they will receive adequate protection regardless of the state in which they work."
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The read more about OSHA and workers' compensation click here.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Jungle Called Workers’ Comp



Almost a century ago Upton Sinclair authored The Jungle. It is the story of the dangerous work of the meatpacking industry. In a very comprehensive report, “The Speed Kills You,” published by Nebraska Appleseed 2009, the stark realities of the failures of the workers’ compensation system are exposed.

Nebraska Appleseed (Appleseed) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public interest law project.  Their principles: “core values, common ground, and equal justice,” guide their mission. Appleseed recruited many scholars, professionals, and community leaders, to assist in the production of the report.

The failings described by the report, while targeted to Nebraska’s meatpacking industry, have universal application and the consequences dramatically reveal the domino effect of an imploding system that has been run off the road and been flung into the ditch.

Appleseed reports that in Nebraska, where 20% of the US meat is processed, the workplace remains a jungle.  After conducting an extensive survey, with input from both employers, employees, academicians and practitioners, the non-profit group reported that deadly speed on the meat packaging line has resulted in an increase in the amount of injuries that go unreported because of employees’ fear of harassment by employers.

The meatpackers, many undocumented workers, suffer from repetitive motion injures caused by working in awkward positions all day.  Their language barrier, lack of knowledge of legal remedies, unfamiliarity with workers’ compensation benefit procedures, further complicate their ability to seek redress.

The noble goals envisioned by the national workers’ compensation system were to provide a summary and remedial benefit to injured workers. The cost of benefits was to be passed onto to the consumer. Safety was not addressed. Unfortunately, it is not a punitive system geared to make the workplace safer. Since its inception in 1911, it has lacked the necessary elements to create an economic incentive for employers to increase safety in the workplace.

The issues identified by the Nebraska study are mirrored throughout the country. Employees lack adequate information about the workers’ compensation, they continue to be subjected to poor ergonomic conditions, inspections by OSHA have been few and far between, and discrimination against employees and a challenge to their dignity continues. There are few penalties imposed against employers for delay and denial of claims. The system has become convoluted, dilatory, and litigious in nature. It now forces an employee to battle a system that blames them for getting hurt.

The workers’ compensation jungle described by the Appleseed report must finally be tamed. Employees should no longer be treated merely as beasts of burden. Injured workers should have their dignity restored. The Appleseed recommendations should be addressed and the entire system, including medical benefit delivery, be improved. To make the workplace jungle safer, employers must be held accountable for the unreasonable actions taken only for their pecuniary gain.
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To read more about medical benefits & workers' compensation click here.


Monday, November 9, 2009

Integration of Benefits Anticipated to Save Money


A recent report indicates substantial economic savings if health insurance (a date based system) was merged with workers’ compensation (an event based system) coverage. The report, authored by a study group headed by Frank Neuhauser, and funded by the California Healthcare Foundation, predicts substantial money savings as well as system efficiency would occur upon integration of benefits.

“Integrating occupational medical care into the more efficient group health model would reduce administration to approximately 12% to 13%. We extend these findings to the US and estimate that the 10- year (2011- 2020) savings of integrating coverage would be between $490 billion and $560 billion, sufficient to pay for between 26% and 78% of the incremental cost of universal coverage.”

The study also indicates substantial savings in the costs of medical care would occur through integration of benefits.

“The savings would result from the much greater efficiency with which health insurance delivers care compared to workers’ compensation insurance. A minority of health insurance premiums (12%-14%) go to cover administration and profit. Workers’ compensation turns this ratio on its head, spending the majority (50%-60%) of premiums on these same overhead costs.”

“If near universal coverage becomes a reality, the medical portion of several types of property casualty insurance could be delivered in a much more efficient manner. Absent  near universal coverage, we will likely have to continue relying on the more costly, but  important role of other insurance mode
ls.”
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To read more about workers' compensation and medical benefits click here.

California the Epicenter of Workers Compensation Faces Political Gloom

Workers’ Compensation reform was the central political theme that brought Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger into power. After dramatically deforming that system by reducing access and benefits, compounded by other economic woes, California now faces major political upheaval in the upcoming elections.

A poll, reported in Politico, shows that major political change maybe forthcoming.

“Only a third of all voters approved of voters approved of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job leading the state, and 45 percent of voters expressed ‘disappointment’ in him, while another 25 percent felt ‘anger’ or ‘anxiety.’
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To read more about workers' compensation and California click here.

Friday, November 6, 2009

High Unemployment Rates & The Future of Workers Compensation


Soaring unemployment rates will continue to have a critical impact upon the nation's workers' compensation system. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics released numbers revealing that The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October.

"In October, the number of unemployed persons increased by 558,000 to 15.7 million. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since April 1983. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 5.3 percentage points."

"Among the marginally attached, there were 808,000 discouraged workers in October, up from 484,000 a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.6 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in October had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities."

While currently disabled workers may continue to collect benefits in most jurisdictions , even if unemployed, lower payrolls will result in lower premium revenues for insurance companies and lower contributions to State workers' copensation funds. The advocacy system will continue to implode with the resulting less revenue to maintain present and generate new infrastructure.

The numbers show a pattern that the "aging workforce", complicated by younger discouraged workers, may have difficulty finding employment in the new market post-recession. While the practice of workers' compensation law may rebound somewhat on the future, it will cetainly take a different path.
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To read more about the the furture of workers' compensation click here.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Workers' Compensation Beauty Pageant

The chore of ranking state workers' compensation systems is tougher than judging a national beauty pageant.  Peter Rousamiere made an excellent attempt this week in Risk and Insurance. The real answer is in the eyes of the users of the system and not merely on the commercial factors that industry relies upon to judge value.

Workers' compensation is social, remedial legislation. It is supposed to be a summary proceeding that delivers benefits expeditiously and efficiently to injured workers. The promise made in 1911 was a system removed of fault,  contributory negligence and assumption of the risk. Society has reneged on that agreement and now apportions and allocates disability on pre-existing conditions, prior functional credits and individual habits of workers. Ironically, it is Industry itself that markets items that results in obesity, smoking addiction and many other allegedly non-compensable factors.

The quality of a system is not only factored on rate of benefits, cost of insurance and lost time frequency. It is a system that should be evaluated on the human factors of injured workers' access to benefits and the time required to achieve the result. Justice delayed is indeed justice denied.

Yes, California, Alaska, New Jersey, New York and Montana may all share the bottom of the tank on the Risk and Insurance rating scale. However, horror stories are heard from Massachusetts (#1) concerning "opt-out programs," and in Nevada (#2) from OSHA, concerning the failure to abide by safety regulations. These dismal problems seem to be universal and embrace the entire program as it now exists.

Like the Miss America Pageant, it is time to take a good hard look at how the system presently functions and why it is not meeting expectations, both financial and socially.  Congress should commission an undertaking to figure out how to put the workers back into workers' comp.

To read more about a Congressional Commission click here.