Bring a Gun to Work: Is That A Good Public Policy?

Workers' Compensation covers claims of violence in the workplace. Those claims may be escalating if the NRA (National Riffle Association) gets its way and its model legislation allowing employees to bring a gun to work, even if the employer has a policy to the contrary.

"The measures, backed by the National Rifle Association, would allow workers in Alabama,

President Obama visits with survivors of the
shooting in Aurora, Colorado. July 22, 2012
(White House Photo)

Tennessee, South Carolina and Pennsylvania to keep the weapons locked and hidden in their cars in employee parking areas. Seventeen states have approved similar measures since 2003, according to a tally by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco."

Read the complete article:  Guns-to-Work Laws Spread in U.S. as Business Fights NRA (Bloomberg)

Previously-Denied Claims for Some Hanford Workers to be Reviewed

The author, Kit Case, highlights the continuing issues of this Federal Program. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) (P.L.106-398) which was enacted into law in October, 2000 with strong bipartisan support. EEOICPA establishes a program to provide compensation to employers of the Department of Energy (DOE), its contractors and subcontractors, companies that provided beryllium to DOE, and atomic weapons employers. After a decade of enactment the complexity of the EEOIC remains a struggle for injured workers and their families to gain benefits. See also http://tinyurl.com/bqaepmb.

Annette Cary of the Tri-City Herald reported on a change in the way that some claims will be handled for exposures at the Hanford Nuclear Site, including a review of more than 800 previously denied or pending claims for ill Hanford workers that are being reconsidered or put on a fast track for a decision after federal compensation rules were recently eased.

All those claims are for cancers covered by a newly designated special exposure cohort for workers at Hanford from July 1972 through 1983. Workers received that designation if inadequate information existed to estimate their radiation exposure.
The classification allows workers or their survivors to claim $150,000 in compensation plus medical coverage without an estimate showing they received enough radiation to likely cause the cancer. They also may be eligible for up to an additional $250,000 for impairment and wage loss.

Read Ms. Cary's full story here for more details.


Read more about  EEOICPA" claims.

Cold War Compensation Act - EEOICPA: US DOL Notifies Workers ...

Jan 13, 2012

15, 2010, DEEOIC determined that the Uranium Mill at Shiprock, N.M., was a covered DOE facility for the purposes of the EEOICPA. Given that Uranium Mill at Shiprock was only one of the facilities associated with the Uranium ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: US Department of Labor notifies former ...

Sep 05, 2012

Former employees of the following sites may be eligible for EEOICPA compensation and medical benefits if they worked at the facility during a period of covered employment: International Nickel Co. Bayonne Laboratories in ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

NIOSH Proposes Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia As Compensable

Apr 23, 2011

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proposing to treat Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) as a radiogenic cancer under EEOICPA. Under the current final rule on Guidelines for Determining the ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

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• The Going and Coming Rule: Parking Lot Injury Held Not Compensable
• OSHA Needs To Be Strengthened
• Private Investigators in Workers' Compensation

Student Athletes Should be Covered by Workers' Compensation Policies

Student Athletes Should be Covered by Workers' Compensation Policies

They call them "student players" and the schools, televisions companies and advertisers make the money. The "students" get injured and no benefits are available for medical (except when over $90,000 on medical has been expended then an NCAA policy kicks in), no temporary disability or permanent disability are afforded. The student suffer lifetime and carrer altering injuries as they play their hearts out for the schools and they do so without adequate compensation.

There is major inequality going on in College sports which indeed is a BIG business. 

The coaches hammer at the student players and entice them to play too many games in a growing TV broadcast season where one conference add up upon another expanding to greater proportions and placing serious physical demands upon the player resulting in accidents and injuries. 

Additionally bullying by coaches as revealed by Rutgers Basketball Coach Rice physically assaults the students and berates them with indecent name calling.

Where is the accountability? The students are actually employed by the schools to earn profits for the educational institutions and corporate sponsors. The student players are being exploited. Student athletes should be covered by workers' compensation policies.

CMS Hosting a Town Hall Event for WCMSA

Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Town Hall  Event

The CMS will be hosting a WCMSA teleconference on April 11, 2013. This event will provide stakeholders an opportunity to learn more about the Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor (WCRC), and discuss procedural matters that are not case specific.

In an effort to address as many topics as possible, CMS is requesting stakeholders to submit non-case specific questions they would like to have addressed during the teleconference to the CMS MSP Central mailbox* prior to the teleconference. CMS will review and categorize the questions submitted and attempt to answer as many questions as possible during the teleconference. There may also be an opportunity for the stakeholders to ask questions after the presentation.

Date of Teleconference:   April 11, 2013

Call-in time for all calls:   2:30-4:30p.m. EST

Call-in line:                          (800) 603-1774

Pass Code:                           WCRC

Questions for call:            Please submit to CMS mspcentral@cms.hhs.gov*

Questions may be submitted beginning April 1, 2013 thru April 5, 2013 @ 3:30 p.m. EST.

All questions submitted for the teleconference to the email address shown above should clearly state in the subject line “WCRC April 11, 2013 Town Hall Teleconference.”  

Note: Questions submitted to the mailbox after the date and time noted above will not be considered.

Related articles

• CMS Publishes Brand New Reference Guide for Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements
• CMS Announces New WCMSA Re-Evaluation Procedure
• Employee Wellness Programs And Workers' Compensation
• The National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary College
• OSHA Needs To Be Strengthened

US Surgeon General Alerts Americans to the Hazards of Asbestos Disease

The US Surgeon General issued an alert to Americans as to the hazards of asbestos disease, Dr. Regina Benjamin, on the occasion of National Asbestos Awareness Week 2013, has issued a statement alerting Americans to hazards of asbestos exposure.

The occupational exposure to asbestos remains a major health hazard to workers who are involved in the restoration, rehabilitation and repair of older buildings. Asbestos exposure causes latent medical conditions such as: asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a fatal malignancy. Asbestos is still not banned in the US.

During National Asbestos Awareness Week, April 1-7, I urge Americans to learn about the dangers of asbestos exposure.

Asbestos is a mineral fiber that occurs naturally in our environment; in rock and in soil.  Because of its fiber strength and heat resistance, asbestos has traditionally been used in a variety of building construction materials, as insulation and as a fire retardant.

Activity that disturbs asbestos causes small asbestos fibers to float in the air.  Inhaling these fibers leads to asbestos-related diseases.  Three of the major health effects associated with asbestos exposure are lung cancer; mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that is found in the thin lining of the lungs, chest, abdomen and heart;  and asbestosis, a serious progressive, long-term, non-cancer disease of the lungs.

Anyone who disturbs asbestos is at risk.  However, it is of special concern for construction, insulation, and demolition workers, pipefitters, boilermakers and others who might disturb asbestos found in old buildings or equipment as part of their work.  The hazard is also very real to home handymen, first-responders, and community volunteers. 

An Emerging Health Consequence of Fracking: Silica Exposure

Sand produced while fracking is becoming a major health issue for energy workers throughout the country. The intransigency of the Obama Administration to promulgate regulations is further complication the situation and jeopardizing the workers' health.

Silicosis is one of the oldest recognized compensable workers' compensation occupational diseases. In fact, it pre-dated the and was the genesis for the expansion of many occupational statutes to reduce employers' liability under the civil justice system. The Industry effort was an attempt to reduce costly liability verdicts for exposing workers to the hazards of silica.

"Peg Seminario, director of safety and health with the AFL-CIO, a group of unions that has been pushing for stronger silica regulation, says the situation with fracking is a wake-up call.

"'Hopefully it will give some impetus for the need for the silica regulation — that there is a whole other population at risk and those numbers are potentially growing,' says Seminario."

OSHA Needs To Be Strengthened

If workplaces were safer then there would be no reason to have a workers' compensation program at all. OSHA, The Occupational Safety and Head Health Administration (OSHA), does just that, but its enforcement powers are lacking.

OSHA was created legislatively by Congress in 1970. In the years following  The National

Commission on Workmen's Compensation Laws in 1972 reported that safety should be encouraged, and that, "....Economic incentives in the program should reduce the number of work-related· injuries

and diseases." 

Today, The New York Times reports that "Occupational illness and injuries ....cost the American economy $250 Billion per year due to medical expenses and lost productivity."

English: A picture of David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"OSHA devotes most of its budget and attention to responding to here-and-now dangers rather than preventing the silent, slow killers that, in the end, take far more lives. Over the past four decades, the agency has written new standards with exposure limits for 16 of the most deadly workplace hazards, including lead, asbestos and arsenic. But for the tens of thousands of other dangerous substances American workers handle each day, employers are largely left to decide what exposure level is safe.

***

“"I’m the first to admit this [OSHA] is broken,' said David Michaels, the OSHA director, referring to the agency’s record on dealing with workplace health threats. 'Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people end up on the gurney.'"

Click here to read the complete article,  As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester