Designed in Cupertino: Apple under fire again for working conditions at Chinese factories

Holding US companies accountable for unsafe working conditions abroad is a major challenge. Does cheap labor equate to poor working conditions? Is China more interested in providing an abundance of jobs  than a safe workplace as and more immigrants flock to the cities every year for work?Ares cheap and unsafe  labor conditions really a political tool as a defense to revolution? Today's post is shared from theguardian.com/ Workers in Chinese factories making Apple products continue to be poorly treated, with exhausted employees falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts, the BBC has said after an undercover investigation. Reporters who took jobs at the Pegatron factories found workers regularly exceeded 60 hours a week – contravening the company’s guidance – and that standards on ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were also breached. The broadcaster said promises made by Apple to protect workers in the wake of a spate of suicides at supplier Foxconn in 2010 were “routinely broken”. Apple said that it disagreed with the BBC’s conclusions. The BBC filmed a health and safety exam at a Pegatron factory in which workers chanted out answers in unison, meaning there was little chance of failing. The footage also appeared to show workers had no choice to opt out of doing night shifts or working while standing. One reporter had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off, the BBC reported. In response to the programme, Apple told the BBC: “We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions. “We work with suppliers to address shortfalls, and we see continuous and significant improvement, but we know our work is never done.” The company said it was common for workers to sleep during breaks but it would investigate whether they were falling asleep while working. It said it...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Read more about Apple and safety and health

Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage ...

Dec 13, 2013

Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage issues ... Pegatron and Apple said their investigations indicated that the deaths weren't linked to work conditions. In response to Shi's death, Apple last month sent ...

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

Workers' Compensation: Apple Is Moving Distracted Driving ...

Jun 13, 2013

Transportation accidents account for a high proportion of work-related fatalities, and Apple's announcement with week of increasing the access of iCar-Technology into the automobile is raising serious concerns among safety ...

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

Workers' Compensation: Safety Begins at Home: Riddell All ...

Jan 18, 2013

In a turn of fate, the company who anufatures football safety gear has itself been sited for serious safety vilations at its own manufacturing facilities. The apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree. The U.S. Department of ...

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

Workers' Compensation: Hey Siri, Where Are the Words ...

Jan 18, 2012

The recently released annual Apple Supplier Report discusses production safety and health issues of Apple's global international suppliers. Admitting many problems including health and safety violations, including an ...

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

Found on

Related articles

• Apple 'failing to protect workers' (bbc.co.uk)

Apple 'failing to protect Chinese factory workers'

Today's post is shared from bbc.com/

Poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products has been discovered by an undercover BBC Panorama investigation.

Filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken.

It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories.

Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions.

Exhausted workers were filmed falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.

One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off.

Another reporter, whose longest shift was 16 hours, said: "Every time I got back to the dormitories, I wouldn't want to move.

"Even if I was hungry I wouldn't want to get up to eat. I just wanted to lie down and rest. I was unable to sleep at night because of the stress."

'Continuous improvement'

Apple declined to be interviewed for the programme, but said in a statement: "We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions.

"We work with suppliers to address shortfalls, and we see continuous and significant improvement, but we know our work is never done."

Apple said it...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson-Reuters). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Found on

Related articles

• Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage issues (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Labor rights group accuses Apple suppliers of violating labor laws (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Apple under fire again for working conditions at Chinese factories (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Reflections On Apple's Factory Working Conditions (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• How Tech Companies Tricked A Generation Into Working For Free (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Halloween Food Safety Tips for Parents (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Investigations of Foxconn Claimed to be a PR Stunt

Image via Wikipedia

Workers' Compensation systems are programs base benefits on wages converted to rates of payment and that is the basis for the payment by an employer for workers' compensation coverage. Honest employer reporting enforced by random retroactive insurance company audits  guard against employer fraud.

The US laws for workers' compensation work as a mechanisim to encourage safer working conditions. Additionally, the exploitation of child labor triggers penalties against the employer. The penalties are both civil and criminal in nature.

On February 23, the occasion of Apple's 2012 annual shareholders' meeting, the IMF, GoodElectronics and makeITfair call on Apple shareholders to do the right thing in an open letter. Apple has recently joined the Fair Labour Association (FLA), but recent developments point to this being no more than a PR stunt.

FLA is currently conducting an investigation of labor conditions at Apple supplier Foxconn in China. Although the FLA report is only due in March, it has already been reported that the FLA has formed a positive opinion of conditions at Foxconn, without yet interviewing workers. This casts doubts on the independence of the investigation (FLA is directly funded by Apple) and the credibility of its final report. Contrary to FLA's standard methodology, the Foxconn investigation was not unannounced which has allowed the company to hide abuses by banning illegal overtime for 16-17 year olds during the period of the investigation.

Apple's initiative in joining FLA was appreciated, however, misusing the initiative as a PR stunt will reflect very badly on Apple's sustainability initiatives and statements. The open letter tells shareholders that in addition to proper auditing, Apple also needs to look into improving its purchasing practices by ensuring fair prices and well-planned lead times, allowing workers to work normal hours and earn a living wage.

The IMF, GoodElectronics and makeITfair are among a growing group of concerned trade unions and other civil society organisations calling upon Apple to improve its act and stamp out persistent violations of labour rights in its supply chain.

Related articles

• Workers Compensation Fails to Cover Most Occupational Disease Claims (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Workers Compensation: The Next Wave From California (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Foxconn Employees Say Underage Workers Were Hidden Before FLA Inspection (cultofmac.com)
• Foxconn, Apple Supplier, Raises Worker Comp (247wallst.com)
• Fair Labor Association Waters Down Violations at Foxconn (talkingunion.wordpress.com)
• Apple Responds to Nightline Foxconn Report of the Day (geeks.thedailywh.at)

Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Occupational Exposure to Cellphone Radiation

Last week, the French government requested that Apple stop selling the iPhone 12 model because of excessive radiation detected during recent tests. The Agence National des Fréquences [ANFR] stated that “…Apple must immediately take all measures to prevent the availability on the market of the phones concerned present in the supply chain. Regarding phones already sold, Apple must take corrective measures as soon as possible to make the phones concerned compliant. Otherwise, it will be up to Apple to recall them.”

Labor rights group accuses Apple suppliers of violating labor laws

Today's post is shared from jurist.com
A New York-based labor rights group alleged Monday that a Taiwanese company that produces iPhones for Apple [corporate website] has violated labor and environmental laws in China. China Labor Watch [advocacy website] accused Apple company, Pegatron [corporate website], which assembles products including the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, of withholding employees' pay and imposing excessive working hours at factories in mainland China. In its report, China Labor Watch reported at least 86 labor rights violations while investigating three Pegatron factories from March to July. Most of the workers are working 66 to 69 hours a week, which far exceeds China's statutory limit of 49 hours. The group also reported that Pegatron engaged in discriminatory hiring practices, including refusing to hire applicants older than 35 or members of ethnic minorities. The group also reported that employees were required to dump hazardous water in sewers. In a company statement, Apple said that it was "committed to providing safe and fair working conditions" and would investigate the claims about Pegatron.
Conditions in Chinese factories that produce iPhones and other popular Apple products have been under continued scrutiny. In 2012 China Labor Watch accused another Taiwanese supplier, Foxconn of violating labor and environmental laws [JURIST report] in its factories. Apple became the first...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage issues (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Hey Siri, Where Are the Words, Workers Compensation? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Supplier for Samsung and Lenovo Accused of Using Child Labor (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Statement from the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network On the Bangladesh Factory Fires and What's Needed to Prevent Them (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• US Dept of Labor Combats Child Labor in Global Supply Chain (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Investigations of Foxconn Claimed to be a PR Stunt (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Obama administration to begin processing Social Security payments to same-sex couples (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Reflections On Apple's Factory Working Conditions (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA seeks damages for wrongly terminated employee who made safety complaint (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Expectations Must Adapt to Change

In the "old days" the US workers' compensation system,  meet or "exceeded exceptions." Looking backward we recognize an aggressive and dedicated work ethic, that the government, private industry and labor," managed to embrace into a "Grand Bargain" called Workers' Compensation. 

Times have changed. In the past the corporate and executive workplace was a formal "tie and jacket" environment. Seasoned member always gripe how things have changed for the worse and long for a return to the comforting and familiar "good old times." 

Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage issues

The recent deaths of a 15-year-old and three other workers at an iPhone plant in Shanghai highlight the challenges that Apple Inc. and its suppliers face to maintain worker safety and keep underage people out of factories. In September, 15-year-old Shi Zhaokun began work at Pegatron's Shanghai assembly plant using an identification card that said he was 20. A month later, he died of pneumonia. Labor groups said long working hours and crowded living conditions contributed to Shi's death. Taiwan-based Pegatron on Wednesday confirmed that four workers died of illnesses recently at the Shanghai factory, which employs about 100,000 people. Pegatron and Apple said their investigations indicated that the deaths weren't linked to work conditions. In response to Shi's death, Apple last month sent independent medical experts from the U.S. and China to the Pegatron factory to conduct an investigation, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said. "While they have found no evidence of any link to working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved ones," she said. Apple declined to comment about employment of underage workers, although the company has long said it is diligent about enforcing age rules at its suppliers. It was unclear how Shi — who, his family said, was pronounced healthy at a Pegatron checkup in September — ended up dying of acute pneumonia a month later.

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• Black Friday: OSHA Issues Safety Warning to Employers
• Workplace Safety and Health Topics
• Europeans Fault American Safety Effort in Bangladesh
• Deadly Factory Fire Bares Racial Tensions in Italy
• Violence Occupational Hazards in Hospitals
• Arson blamed for huge Bangladesh garment factory fire

Does Workers' Compensation Really Have a Place in the iEverything World?

I started my day watching the video of the launch of Apple's iWatch. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, and his team never disappoints with the rollout of amazing new technology. Even the non-believers will be enthralled.

The implementation of Apple's technology is based upon widespread adoption. In the case of linking the iPhone and the iWatch to an iEverything platform they are relying upon the basic instinct for humans to survive and live healthier and longer.

Apple is making a massive move into medicine on a global basis. They are expanding internationally on all fronts including research projects with the world's top medical facilities and training institutions. It is awesome.

Apple is adopting to the changing world. It is helping to change the world simultaneously. The tech company is not stagnated by old technology or systems.

The nation's workers' compensation program is a century old. The system was a good fit for an old market. The system created in 1911 worked well in times that no longer exists today.

I can't get onto my computer without reading about the workers' compensation system being pounded by all factions and stakeholders. The elements and issues that created the nation's workers' compensation program for the most part no longer exist.

Robert Reich wrote this week that technological advancements have automated the workplace. Fewer people are required to do tasks and that number decreases daily. "New technologies aren’t just labor-replacing. They’re also knowledge-replacing."

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Thomas Friedman, Foreign Affairs Columnist of the NY Times, speak about how the world has changed only in the last couple of decades. He talked about what must be done today to meet the realities of the future.

Friedman reflected on Moore's Law,  named after the co-founder of Intel Corporation, Gordon E. Moore. Moore observed that the speed and power of microchips will double every 24 months.

"The really big thing that just happened" Thomas Friedman observed is that, "the Market, Mother Nature and Moore's Law, just went into hyper-acceleration." 

When you apply the observations of both Reich and Friedman to a century-old social remedial program operating as workers' compensation,  a basic question arises. Does the present workers' compensation system really have a place any longer in the iEverything world?

Related articles

• Choose wisely: Your all-important Apple Watch choice (macworld.com)
• Wage Theft -- Another Assault on Workers' Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Electronic Gadget Dermatitis Maybe the Next Latex Allergy in the Workplace (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Where the Workers' Compensation Medical Dollar Goes in Florida (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Nearly One Third Of Workers' Comp Claims Caused By Ice & Snow (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Apple Is Moving Distracted Driving Into High Gear

Transportation accidents account for a high proportion of work-related fatalities, and Apple's announcement with week of increasing the access of iCar-Technology into the automobile is raising serious concerns among safety lobbyists.

Workers' compensation insurance companies in co-ordination with the US Department of

IOS in the Car
Heavy Integration Announced
at Apple Conference

Transportation (DOT) have made major efforts over the last few years to target distracted driving as a major safety issue to avoid serious accidents and ultimately save lives and reduce insurance costs. The DOT reports, "Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on America's roadways. In 2011 alone, over 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving crashes."

As of June 2013, 41 state, the District of Columbia, and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers. Also, 11 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands, prohibit all drivers from using handheld phones while driving.

Hey Siri, Where Are the Words, Workers Compensation?

The recently released annual Apple Supplier Report discusses production safety and health issues of Apple's global international suppliers. Admitting many problems including health and safety violations, including an explosion at Foxconn's Chengdu factor because of aluminum dust, the report lacks a mention of a workers' compensation program.

Click here to read: Apple Supplier Responsibility report 2012

"We were deeply saddened by events at two of our suppliers in 2011. An explosion at Foxconn’s Chengdu factory tragically took the lives of four employees and injured 18 others. An explosion at the Ri-Teng (a subsidiary of Pegatron) factory in Shanghai injured 59.Immediately after each of these incidents, Apple reached out to the foremost experts in process safety and assembled teams to investigate the circumstances of each explosion. These teams made recommendations about how to prevent future accidents. While the causes of these two incidents—as well as many of the corrective actions taken afterward—were different, both explosions involved combustible dust. Many materials, including ones normally considered noncombustible, can burn rapidly when small particles are suspended in air in the right concentration and ignited. In both of the 2011 incidents, aluminum particles provided fuel for a blast."

Related articles

• The Top 10 Workers' Compensation Blog Posts for 2011 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The Law School's Roll in Workers' Compensation Law To Be Discussed (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Insurance Group Changed With Fraudulently Syphoning Millions of Taxpayers Dollars (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Baby Boomers Have Work Comp Claims Too (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA Urges An Injury & Illness Prevention Programs (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

The Compensability of a Cellphone Radiation Exposure

A pending case in California may have significant impact on potential workers’ compensation claims throughout the country. The case involves the causal relationship of radio frequency [RF] radiation emitted by cellphones and human cancer. Cohen v. Apple, Inc., et. al, Case 5:19-cv-05322 (Filed 08/23/19) USDCT-North District California - San Jose Division.

The woman who nearly died making your iPad

Foreign workers lack safety and health protections that exist under US laws. This story reflects what America was like without adequate workplace safety laws and enforcement. Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.theguardian.com

At around 8am on 17 March 2010, Tian Yu threw herself from the fourth floor of her factory dormitory in Shenzhen, southern China. For the past month, the teenager had worked on an assembly line churning out parts for Apple iPhones and iPads. At Foxconn's Longhua facility, that is what the 400,000 employees do: produce the smartphones and tablets that are sold by Samsung or Sony or Dell and end up in British and American homes.

But most famously of all, China's biggest factory makes gadgets for Apple. Without its No 1 supplier, the Cupertino giant's current riches would be unimaginable: in 2010, Longhua employees made 137,000 iPhones a day, or around 90 a minute.

That same year, 18 workers – none older than 25 – attempted suicide at Foxconn facilities. Fourteen died. Tian Yu was one of the lucky ones: emerging from a 12-day coma, she was left with fractures to her spine and hips and paralysed from the waist down. She was 17.

When news broke of the suicide spree, reporters battled to piece together what was wrong in Apple's supply chain. Photos were printed of safety nets strung by the company under dorm windows; interviews with workers revealed just how bad conditions were. Some quibbled over how unusual the Foxconn deaths were, arguing that they were in line with China's high rate of self-killing. However conscience-soothing that claim was in both Shenzhen and California, it overlooked how those who take their own lives are often elderly or women in...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

NJ CRIB Policy Coverage Mobile App

The New Jersey Compensation, Rating and Inspection Bureau [NJCRIB] has released a mobile app to ascertain workers' compensation insurance policy data.

It is All The Same Apple

Another challenge to the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP) has been introduced (H.R. 1063 in Congress. This is yet another attempt to bounce the dead cat on the floor.

The legislation is the third reiteration by insurance companies, and the cottage industry that has emerged to service conditional payment resolution. It is most likely doomed to failure reflecting the quick death of its predecessors and the worsening economic times.

Since the enactment of the  MSP in 1980, there has been a slow, yet pervasive and effective effort by the US government to stop the shifting ofmedical costs from the workers’ compensation system onto the  shoulders of the Medicare system.

Medicare has its own solvency problems, not withstanding cost-shifting by the workers’ compensation system. Medicare is trying to serve a growing constituency as costs soar and the base of available of income to tax dwindles. Medicare costs have become a major target for the “Super Committee” in Congress for cost reduction.

Statistics also reveal that the aging workforce is continuing to fall apart physically and file for Social Security Disability Insurance in lieu of workers' compensation at a greater rate than ever..  Even though more attention is now directed to major diseases such as cardio-vascular, cancer and diabetes, the aging bodies of the senior citizen population continue to need more medical care due to wear and tear alone. The barriers established through so-called reformed efforts have blocked the follow of new occupational disease cases into the workers' compensation system.

The aging workforce looks to Social Security Disability Benefits and Medicare as a more effective remedy, and one that takes precedence over applications for workers’ compensation. Fewer seniors, and those approaching that age, opt for workers’ compensation benefits. This pattern even puts more fiscal strain on the present Social Security and Medicare system. 

Medicare is really not a free-ride for seniors and the government. While workers and their employers have made contributions for a lifetime, the system consume a large portion of the nation's economic wealth. Two major hospitalizations by a beneficiary exhaust all the individual and employer economic contributions completely from the reserves, and the government is stuck covering excess bills for the individual's lifetime.

As the US government continues to mandate stricter reporting and payment procedures the state workers’ compensation programs as the state programs to become further stressed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicar Services (CMS) reimbursement procedures. Both the federal and state systems have the same goal of providing assistance to disabled workers and their families.

As each continue to battle for a resolution of their own economic issues, they are merely shooting each other in the foot and weakening the entire purpose of each of their noble missions. Until a more unified system is established, it is incumbent upon both programs to direct their efforts to designing a more non-contentious system of resolution. 

The mandatory arbitration of the cost medical reimbursement would be an interim step so that the workers’ compensation administrative process could go forward unimpeded. The problem of funding medical costs for the population should be considered one apple, and taking bites at it from every direction will merely result in a total deterioration of the entire process.

Related articles

• Government Appeals Case Involving CMS Statute of Limitations (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Bad Faith Claims Maybe Going to the Jury (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Genetic Pre-Disposition to Mesothelioma (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Why is the US Still in the Asbestos Business? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

How Tech Companies Tricked A Generation Into Working For Free

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.forbes.com

Last month Apple announced it would open beta testing access for its soon-to-be-revealed version of OS X to anyone with a compatible computer. Once a process reserved for a limited number of developers operating under non-disclosure agreements, the ability to have early access to new software from one of the most desirable companies in the world feels like an unexpected gift. The labor necessary to test software as complicated and widely distributed as an operating system is hard to calculate, but, like all forms of software testing, there is a point where the expense of paying workers is no longer economically feasible. But because Apple has cultivated an image of unattainable desirability for its products, this structure of uncompensated labor becomes a happy privilege, an opportunity to contribute to the ongoing evolution of a brand they love as an echo of themselves. These voluntary forms of unwaged labor have become endemic as work has increasingly shifted toward the production of digital metaphors like apps, operating systems, and analysis. As the economy has continued to create its divine mirage of growth, workers have come to seem like profit deterrents whose need for sleep, food, play, and security drag down the system. Central to this shift has been the mass distribution of computers, the uses of which have become so frictionless and pleasing they encourage the subconscious guilt of the average worker, who begins to suspect that spending her day telecommuting in...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• Wage Theft -- Another Assault on Workers' Compensation
• Inside low-wage workers' plan to sue McDonald's - and win
• I.R.S. Bars Employers From Dumping Workers Into Health Exchanges
• The Vanishing Concept of a Job
• Mexican Consulate, Labor Dept. Partner On Worker Protection

Google, Apple, Lucas Film Accused of Fixing Employee Wages

A lawsuit was filed last week against major players in the dot-com field for fixing employees wages. An employee's wage is a determining factor in workers' compensation claims to ascertain scheduled rates of compensation benefits.


The suit, filed in California last week, alleges that Apple, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar  conspired "to fix and suppress the compensation of their employees." The class action claims that these companies violated California antitrust statues.



Rates for determining permanent partial disability have changed dramatically since the enactment of the Workers' Compensation Act in 1911. The present system of determining the rate of permanent partial disability payable to a claimant is statutorily defined in a disability wage and compensation schedule in the Workers' Compensation Act. The present disability wage and compensation schedule is based upon the Statewide Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) and establishes percentages for maximum and minimum compensation.  The schedule  reflects the percentages of disability presently in effect for maximum benefits.  The schedule also sets forth values calculated in number of weeks for specific members of the body. 


For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• Professional Athletes Deserve Fair Workers Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Worker Alleging Workers Compensation Discrimination Awarded $361,000 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Bilateral Carpal Tunnel Results in Workers' Compensation Total Disability (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Texas Disallows Work Comp Retaliation Suits Against State Based on Sovereign Immunity (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Inconsistent Enforcement of State Wage and Hour Laws Could Lead to "Regulatory Race to The Bottom, " New Study Finds (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Distracted Walkers Are a Workplace Hazard

Over the last 2 days I watched at least a half-a-dozen people walking in the streets with a cellphone in their hands, and totally ignoring all traffic signals and vehicles around them. We are too quick to blame workers for causing all accidents through the use of cellphones.  Pedestrians on many occasions ignore all reason and logic, and walk in front of vehicles oblivious to the world.

Read: Distracted Walking: Injuries Soar for Pedestrians on Phones 

Cell Phone Use Not Just Dangerous for Drivers, Study Finds

"More than 1,500 pedestrians were estimated to be treated in emergency rooms in 2010 for injuries related to using a cell phone while walking, according to a new nationwide study."

NJ & NY Launch Apps to Help Prevent the Spread of Covid-19

Governor Phil Murphy and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of COVID-19 exposure notification mobile apps in their respective states that will serve as crucial tools to supplement the effort to trace and contact individuals subject to a COVID exposure. 

Penalties for Insurance Companies Who Fail to Pay Enough for Medical Care

The quality of medical care for workers' compensation beneficiaries has always been a major issue. Injured workers just don't want to go to an employer selected physician.They want to go to a doctor who provides good quality medical care and one they have confidence in. It makes good medical sense. While one concept to adjust the issue is to compel insurance carriers to pay for outcome driven results. If the doctor cures you, then the doctor should be paid in full for the reasonable value of his or her services. If the opposite, well then maybe the doctor should get paid less.

Another approach, enacted by the federal government is to compel insurance carriers to pay a certain percentage of premiums collected for medical care, instead of paying large sums for administration expenses. That could be applied to workers' compensation carriers. Instead of paying 80% of the premium to fight the claim, workers' compensation insurance companies should be compelled to pay 80% to cure the medical condition.

Read more about this concept:
HHS Unveils Medical Loss Ratio Rule (Kaiser Health Breaking News)

"The Department of Health and Human Services today released its final medical loss ratio rule. According to an HHS press release, the rule will ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of consumers' health insurance premiums on medical care rather than on income, overhead and marketing expenses. "If your insurance company doesn't spend enough of your premium dollars on medical care or quality improvement this year, they'll have to give you rebates next year," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, in the release . "This will bring costs down and give insurance companies the incentive to focus on what matters for patients – high quality health care."

read more

...

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Related articles

• It is All The Same Apple (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Temporary Holiday Workers Face Hazards of the Season (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Changing the Fundamental Rules of Workers Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Sense of Injustice, Occupy Wall Street & A Tornado Survivor From Joplin (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Cell Phones Usage For Commercial Interstate Drivers to be Banned (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• State Acts to Restrict Medical Care (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Fallout From The Failure of Super Committee May Cascade Into Workers Compensation Medical Delivery (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

OSHA's Distracted Driving Initiative

Today's post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from www.osha.gov

Welcome to OSHA's Distracted Driving Page! Check out the agency's new distracted driving business brochure on OSHA's publications page.   View winning student-produced public service announcement, "Texting and Driving," from Oregon OSHA co-sponsored video contest to promote young worker safety and health. Read news release [48 KB PDF, 2 pages]. OSHA partners in conference on distracted driving OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels spoke at the Symposium on Prevention of Occupationally-Related Distracted Driving held April 18, 2011, in Laurel, Md. Distracted driving, including texting while driving and cell phone use, is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes. This symposium brought together a variety of stakeholders interested in reducing work-related driving distractions and generated recommendations for action, including new directions for research. The Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in partnership with OSHA, the Department of Transportation and the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy hosted the symposium which included presentations, interactive discussions, opportunities for networking and demonstrations of training materials. U.S. Department of Labor Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Washington, D.C. 20210 October 4, 2010 Dear Employer: Distracted driving has become an epidemic in the United States, and its often fatal...

[Click here to see the rest of this article]

Related articles

• Apple Is Moving Distracted Driving Into High Gear (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Distracted Walkers Are a Workplace Hazard (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA reminds outdoor workers of dangers of heat-related illnesses (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA Targets Occupational Exposure to Isocyanates (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Wal-Mart signs corporate-wide settlement with US Labor Department (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA and NIOSH issue hazard alert on 1-bromopropane (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)