Where Have All The Lawyers Gone?

No where is it more evident than in workers' compensation law, that the lawyers and their practices to assist injured workers, are disappearing. Workers are finding it difficult to obtain legal representation.

Many factors are causing this phenomenon. The principle reasons why the practice of

workers compensation law are shrinking are legal, social and economic.

Those factors include: a shrinking employment base, the loss of a manufacturing sector, and continued Industry "reform" efforts to bar injured workers from accessing the compensation system.

Additionally, as the practice of workplace law keeps drying up, disillusioned new lawyers are abandoning the practice of law at ever increasing numbers. Established law firms are consolidating and closing as second generation lawyers seek other types of work far from the practice of workplace law.

David B. Wilkins, who directs a program on the legal profession at Harvard Law School, said, "'In the 1970s, lawyers spent about half their time serving individuals and half on corporations. By the 1990s, it was two-thirds for corporations. So there has been a skewing toward urban business practice and neglect of many other legal needs.'”

Read the complete article: "No Lawyer for Miles, So One Rural State Offers Pay" 

Read more about "lawyers" and "workers' compensation"

Law Schools Should Establish Workers' Compensation Law Firms
Mar 08, 2013
Today the NY Times reports that law schools through the nation are opening law firms for recent graduates creating new post graduate job opportunities for debt ridden students and for additional training. The field of workers' ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: The Law School's Roll in Workers ...
Jan 12, 2012
They will review how many law schools are featuring a workers' compensation course, how the panelists teach the subject, and they will also provide advice on how to lobby a law school to initiate such a course. The College ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Related articles

• Employee Wellness Programs And Workers' Compensation
• Texas: The Wild West in Action Without Workers' Compensation
• Truckers are often entitled to benefits from multiple states.
• Jobs....a long way to go

Digital Identification: Is Your Employer Going to Take Your Digital Finger Prints, Iris Scans or Face ID

The technology to digitally capture and store an individual's personal biometric identifiable information is growing at a rapid pace. Employers, medical providers and even government agencies have become frustrated by the outlawed use of Social Security numbers as means of identification.

A simple and easily used application has now become available to collect this data through an iPhone. Balacing workers' privacy against the administration of a workers' compensation system has certainly become even more challending. The use of national and international databases for the collection, dissemination and use of this type of data publically, strikes fear in the hearts of injured workers and they become even more reluctant to report both saftey concerns and injuries to employers for fear of discrimination and retaliation.

"The California-based company AOptix rolled out a new hardware and app package that transforms an iPhone into a mobile biometric reader. As first reported by Danger Room in February, AOptix is the recipient of a $3 million research contract from the Pentagon for its on-the-go biometrics technology."

Read he Complete Article::  Now Your iPhone Can Read Fingerprints, Scan Irises and ID Your Face (Wired)

Texas: The Wild West in Action Without Workers' Compensation

Texas for all intents and purposes eliminated its workers' compensation system. Now comes a scathing report from National Public Radio (NPR) about how bad it is for workers who get injured in Texas.

"According to the study, 1 in every 5 Texas construction workers will require hospitalization because of injuries on the job. Texas is the only state in the nation without mandatory workers' compensation, meaning hospitals and taxpayers usually end up shouldering the cost when uncovered construction workers are hurt."

Listen to the complete story: Construction Booming In Texas, But Many Workers Pay Dearly 

CMS Defines Further Defines Policy Implementation on Part D Coverage of Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates

CMS issued the following statement today concerning its policy implementation on Part D Coverage of Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates

"On October 2, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memorandum to Part D Sponsors concerning the transition to Part D Coverage of Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates beginning in 2013.

"Effective June 1, 2013, all  Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside (WCMSA) proposals submitted to CMS for a review of the adequacy of the proposal amount are to include the pricing of benzodiazepines and barbiturates, where appropriate.

"Please note that WCMSA cases submitted to CMS  before June 1, 2013, closed due to missing, incomplete and/or inadequate supporting documentation (or any  other reason), and subsequently re-opened after June 1, 2013, will also be subject to a review that includes the pricing of benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

Related articles

• CMS Hosting a Town Hall Event for WCMSA (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• CMS Publishes Brand New Reference Guide for Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• CMS Announces New WCMSA Re-Evaluation Procedure (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Obama Administration Proposed Social Budget Cut Places More Stress on Workers' Compensation

It has been reported that the Obama Administration will soon propose budgetary cuts in social welfare programs. Those cuts may produce further economic stress on the nation's financially beleaguered workers' compensation system.

A reduction or rationing of medical care through Medicare will remove the safety net available to

injured workers who have been denied workers' compensation benefits initially and are delayed in the administrative/adjudicatory process.

In those states when there is a "reverse offset." the workers' compensation insurance carrier takes an offset when combined benefits exceed the ACE (Average Current Earning) before the onset of lost time, reduction of COLA (Cost of Livening Assessment) the carriers will be required to pay more dollars.

"President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects for a long-term deficit-reduction deal, administration officials say."

Click here to read the complete article: "Obama Budget Reviving Offer of Compromise With Cuts" NYT

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 ...

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Related articles

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• 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.

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

Employer Fined $185,000 for Exposing Employees to Toxic Substances and Other Safety Isues

Even products that are fit for human consumption are made with chemicals, that are used in the manufacturing process with greater concentration, are health hazards. A company in NJ failed to protect its workers from those concentrations and as a result are facing serious charges by OSHA. The precaution to a workers' compensation claim is maintaining a safe work environment so that accidents, injuries and toxic exposures to not occur.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited eSmoke LLC, an electronic 
cigarette manufacturer based in Lakewood, with 20 workplace safety and health violations. OSHA's inspection was prompted by a complaint alleging serious safety and health hazards throughout the facility, resulting in $184,500 in proposed penalties.

The National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary College

Founded approximately 5 years ago, The National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ) (www.nawcj.org), is an outstanding organization that every adjudicator of compensation claims should join. NAWCJ provides support and guidance in both procedural and substantive issues that members of the compensation judiciary faced with on a daily basis.

In a recent blog post, David Langham, the Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims for

the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims and Division of Administrative Hearings, commented,"...the job of a workers' compensation adjudicator is unique and challenging. " Judge Langham, an avid blogger, reflects that NAWCJ fills the void in educating adjudicators with stellar resources, including: ongoing seminars, newsletters, conferences and an annual educational seminar.

I have had the opportunity of meeting some of the members of NAWCJ at The College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers and the annual American Bar Association Workers' Compensation programs. Their passion for workers' compensation is glowing, their knowledge of the subject matter is very impressive, and their dedication to advance and elevate the compensation bench and bar to a high level of achievement is amazing.

Click here to read the NAWCJ Newsletter (March 2013)

Disclaimer:  My comments are based upon an independent academic interest in workers' compensation matters. I have no pecuniary interest in the NAWCJ, and I do not appear before any adjudicator affiliated with the NAWCJ.

CMS Publishes Brand New Reference Guide for Medicare Set-Aside Arrangements

A new Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Reference Guide has been posted and is available to be downloaded on the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicad Services) website.This reference guide was created to consolidate  information currently found within the Workers’ Compensation Agency Services webpages and CMS Regional Office Program Memorandums, while providing WCMSA information to attorneys, Medicare beneficiaries, claimants, insurance carriers, representative payees, and

WCMSA vendors.   

CMS cautions that parties should continue to visit their website for future updates to the reference guide, including additional details regarding the Workers’ Compensation Review Contractor’s review process.

Click here to read/download the new guide.

Read more about WCMSA and workers' Compensation:

Workers' Compensation: CMS Announces New WCMSA Re ...

Feb 21, 2013

Effective immediately, if a WCMSA proposal amount was originally submitted via the web-portal, a re-evaluation of an approved WCMSA amount can be requested through the WCMSA web portal, if the claimant or submitter ...

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

Toxic Lead Exposure Results in OSHA Fines for NJ Company

Exposure to lead can cause serious medical problem in both children and adults. Strict safety precautions must be observed when working with lead.

Many initial occupational exposure claims in workers' compensation resulted from the

exposure to lead in factories. Lead pigment was used in paints for many years leading to a many serious blood disorders and neurological conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Henry RAC Holding Corp. with four repeat and four serious safety and health violations, including workers exposed to lead hazards, at the company's Bayonne facility. The inspection was initiated in September 2012 after health hazards were discovered during an earlier OSHA safety inspection at the facility. Proposed penalties total $72,000.

Official Disabilities Guidelines Now Covers Diabetes

Today's post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

While diabetes is not a work injury or illness, it can have a serious impact on the rate at which an injured worker recovers. For instance, people with diabetes may have a much harder time healing from a foot or leg injury.

The latest edition of the annual Official Disabilities Guidelines (ODG) has been released, including the latest ODG volume on treating patients. ODG Treatment is the nationally recognized standard for medicine in determining the scope and duration of medical treatment in workers’ compensation.

Should Employers Hire Smokers?

Workers' Compensation claims seem to increase with both complexity and severity when a worker is a smoker and suffers an occupational exposure. The class case is the synergistic effect that smoking has with some carcinogenic substance such as asbestos.

The ethical implications are reviewed this week in the New England Journal of Medicine

 where the authors seem to take the position that smokers should not be punished, but rather reformed.

"Finding employment is becoming increasingly difficult for smokers. Twenty-nine U.S. states have passed legislation prohibiting employers from refusing to hire job candidates because they smoke, but 21 states have no such restrictions. Many health care organizations, such as the Cleveland Clinic and Baylor Health Care System, and some large non–health care employers, including Scotts Miracle-Gro, Union Pacific Railroad, and Alaska Airlines, now have a policy of not hiring smokers — a practice opposed by 65% of Americans, according to a 2012 poll by Harris International. We agree with those polled, believing that categorically refusing to hire smokers is unethical: it results in a failure to care for people, places an additional burden on already-disadvantaged populations, and preempts interventions that more effectively promote smoking cessation."

Ciba, Toms RIver NJ and a Cancer Epidemic

Early in my workers' compensation career, during the 1980's, I was asked by a local attorney to participate in the prosecution of 3 brain cancer workers' compensation claims. The cases arose out of an alleged exposure to toxic substances while working at the Ciba-Geigy's chemical plant in Toms River, NJ. 

Being a notoriously zealous attorney, I undertook the claims. They were being defended personally by named partner in a mega-NJ liability firm. After several hearing dates, and my motion being granted for an on-site inspection of the premises with Judge being present, the claims were ended to the satisfaction of my clients.

The story of Ciba-Geigy and the plight of the employees and the community is now the subject of an insightful book, Toms River, A story of Science and Salvation authored by Dan Fagin.

Click here to hear the NPR Story - For Toms River, An Imperfect Salvation

The Going and Coming Rule: Parking Lot Injury Held Not Compensable

A NJ appellate court ruled that an employee who was severely injured in a parking lot as a result of a slip and fall was not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits since the injury occurred “off the premises” and the employer did not control the employee’s parking.

The Court also ruled, that even though a separate corporation that owned the parking lot, the corporate veil could not be pierced in absence of the proof of fraud by the employer. The employer merely rented the store premises and not the parking lot. 

Cottone v Medical Supply Corp. and NJ Manufacturers (Intervener) 
2013 WL 1136114 (N.J.Super.A.D.) Decided March 20, 2013

California: Million Dollar Verdict Reinstated in Asbestos Case

Court rules granting a Motion Not Withstanding the Verdict was premature in mesothelioma / asbestos exposure case.

"The trial court erred, both procedurally and substantively, by granting judgment notwithstanding the jury’s verdict.  The judgment must be reversed, automatically reinstating the original judgment entered on the jury’s verdict.  

"Because the judgment must be reinstated in the Webbs’ favor, we do not consider their appeal from the jury’s verdict denying their consumer-expectation products-liability claim, which they made expressly contingent on this court’s failure to “otherwise reverse and order judgment” on the failure-to-warn or general negligence claims.

Webb v Special Electric Company Inc. 
www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B233189.DOC

Related articles

• Failure to Remove Asbestos Property Results in Guilty Plea (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos Disease Remains a Problem Despite Lower Consumption in the US (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Proposed Asbestos Legislation Called "A Subterfuge" to Alter the Civil Justice System (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• How to Protect Public Employees and Communities From Asbestos Exposure (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
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Laundry in Paterson NJ Fined $165,000 by OSHA for Safety and Health Violations

Commercial laundries are the cause of many workers' compensation claims from toxic exposures and machine accidents. Enforce of safety and health laws goes a long way to prevent accidents at commercial laundry facilities.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Brite Services Inc., doing business as Star Laundry, for 39 serious safety and health violations found at its commercial laundry facility in Paterson. Inspectors were prompted by a complaint alleging the company would not allow workers to leave the building during an emergency. Proposed penalties total $164,700.

OSHA found electrical hazards and an obstructed and improperly marked exit route. Additional violations include: allowing employees to potentially be struck by traffic while transporting laundry bins from one building to another while crossing a public street; failing to provide a cover and guardrails for open pits; provide a handrail for the stairway; evaluate the workplace for permit-required confined spaces; post signs informing workers of confined spaces; and develop a written confined space permit program. Other violations include failing to establish an energy control program for performing maintenance/servicing work; train power industrial truck operators; take powered industrial trucks in need of repair out-of-service; insulate or cover steam pipes less than 7 feet from the floor; properly guard machines; implement a hearing conservation program for workers exposed to noise levels at 88 and 89 decibels; ensure safety goggle usage; provide an unblocked eyewash station; develop a written hazard communication program; and provide hazard communication training.

"The vast number and range of safety and health hazards observed by OSHA at this facility indicates the lack of a functioning safety and health management system," said Lisa Levy, director of OSHA's area office in Hasbrouck Heights. "Each employer is responsible for ensuring a safe and healthful work environment, which Brite Services did not do. This company has the opportunity now to educate itself, correct these hazards and protect its workers."

The citations can be viewed at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/briteservices_641138and658718_0314_13.pdf*.

Brite Services Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director in Hasbrouck Heights, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Related articles

• OSHA Cites NJ Recycling Company for Safety Violations Following Worker Amputation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Stucco Contractor in NJ Receives OSHA Fines $70,000+ for Scaffolding Violations (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA fines Englewood, NJ, surgical center $68,000 for failing to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogen hazards (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Why Do Roofers Fall From Roofs? Is it just because of gravity? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Unsafe to Travel - "America is one big pothole" (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Silica Linked to a Fatal and Compensable Lung Cancer (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

The Hazards of Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers now proliferate the workplace. Concern has been raised over medical issues created by their use, especially for pregnant women who are health care workers. Additionally the fragrances used may be toxic.

Virginia Evans and Peter Orris from the University of Illinois authored a Letter to the Editor on this topic in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine ( Vol 54(1):3, Jan 2012).

“…exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizers would, at most, lead to very low blood alcohol levels… if an additional risk reduction is desired by pregnant health care workers, work practices should be modified to allow the use of soap and water as a substitute for the alcohol-based hand sanitizer.”

See also http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse.php?

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• Hand Sanitizer Poisoning, Fires and more. (dailybragger.com)
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OSHA Cites NJ Recycling Company for Safety Violations Following Worker Amputation

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Lieze Associates, doing business as Eagle Recycling of New Jersey, with one repeat and three serious safety violations after a worker's fingers were amputated in December 2012 at the company's North Bergen recycling transfer station. OSHA's investigation was initiated in response to a referral by the North Bergen Police Department and has resulted in proposed fines of $70,070.

"This incident should have been prevented by simply locking out the machine's power source," said Kris Hoffman, director of OSHA's Parsippany Area Office. "Eagle Recycling of New Jersey's continued disregard for complying with OSHA safety standards will not be tolerated."

OSHA inspectors found that procedures were not used to lock out the energy source of a conveyor belt system while the worker was clearing a cardboard jam, which resulted in the amputation. OSHA cited the company with a serious violation for failing to implement a lockout/tagout program to control potentially hazardous energy. Another violation includes failing to ensure a ladder placed with the two top rails was supported and placed with secure footing. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The repeat violation was cited for exposing workers to 8-foot fall hazards while working on unguarded platforms. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcements states within the last five years. A similar violation was cited in 2009 and 2010.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Parsippany, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Related articles

• Why Do Roofers Fall From Roofs? Is it just because of gravity? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• OSHA fines Englewood, NJ, surgical center $68,000 for failing to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogen hazards (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Norfolk Southern Railway Co. ordered by US Labor Department's OSHA to pay $1.1 million after terminating 3 workers for reporting injuries (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Silica Linked to a Fatal and Compensable Lung Cancer (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Workers' Compensation is Riding on the Road to Wellville with Obama Care

As Obama Care [The Affordable Care Act] launches, workers' compensation programs will start to undergo subtle changes   The innovation of wellness programs and new treatment protocols will eventually cause major shifts to the delivery of workplace medicine.

Workers' compensation's future, ironically, has actually been viewed primarily in a rearview mirror. The shift to break with old habits has been a major struggle. The inertia will give way to a creative future based on new technologies and socio-economic challenges.

In a recent article by The Honorable David B. Torrey, Judge of Workers' Compensation ["The Affordable Care Act and Effects on the Workers' Compensation System, (7 PAWCSNL 114 at 30, March 2013)], the significance of  Obama Care is reported.  Judge Torrey recognizes that even those with major pecuniary interests in the compensation business have been unable to halt the momentum of change.