Workers' Compensation

Thursday, October 24, 2013

CDC - NIOSH Science Blog – Conducting Responder Health Research and Biomonitoring During and Following Disasters

Today's post was shared by Safe Healthy Workers and comes from blogs.cdc.gov

When responding to a disaster, emergency workers may face unique health risks from exposures to hazardous chemical and environmental contaminants in forms and circumstances often not seen in other occupations. While the paramount needs to be addressed in a disaster are the protection of people in the disaster zone and the safety and health of the responders, disasters often provide the opportunity to conduct research on potential short- and long-term health effects among responders.

Knowledge gained from such research will improve the ability of safety and health professionals, administrators, and coordinators to safeguard responders as immediate rescue, recovery, and clean-up activities proceed. As well, it will improve our procedures for safeguarding responders in future emergencies. While this can provide a unique opportunity, the disaster environment presents many challenges for research while response is proceeding.

These limitations include the following:

response activities are the first priority,
researchers or research institutions may have limited access to incident leadership who can approve of research activities,
engaging emergency response personnel is difficult in research activities not immediately pertinent to the response,
marshaling necessary resources quickly will be difficult, and
timely...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Klickitat County Lumber Company Fined

Today's post comes from guest author Kit Case, from Causey Law Firm.

By Kit Case from Causey Law Firm

William Arthur Cooper: Lumber Industry, 1934

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced that a Klickitat County lumber company was fined nearly a quarter of a million dollars after worker gets caught in machinery.

The SDS Lumber Company of Bingen, Wash., has been fined $244,600 for 69 workplace safety and health violations after a worker was seriously injured in March. The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) cited the employer for one willful, 54 serious and 14 general violations of safety and health rules. A willful violation is cited when L&I alleges that the violation was committed with intentional disregard, plain indifference, or when employers substitute their own judgment for safety and health regulations.

L&I determined that a lack of training and proper safety procedures left the lumber mill worker with severe injuries when his arms became entangled in machinery while trying to clear a jam. L&I began an investigation on March 9m 2013 after being notified that the worker had been hospitalized. By law, all employers are required to report to L&I within eight hours anytime a worker is hospitalized or dies due to work-related causes.

“This incident shows the importance of Washington’s hospitalization reporting rule,” said Anne Soiza, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “In most other states, a hospitalization involving only one worker does not have to be reported and the serious hazards could continue unabated. In our state, we are able to send inspectors right away to ensure the safety of the other workers.”

The investigation found that managers and supervisors were aware that workers routinely bypassed machinery safety guards to try and clear jams while the machinery was still in motion.

Consequently, the company was cited the maximum penalty allowed by law, $70,000, for a willful violation. Additionally, because the willful violation was associated with a worker’s serious injuries, the company will now be part of the Severe Violator Enforcement Program, an OSHA program that monitors severe safety violators.

The injury incident prompted comprehensive safety and health inspections of the entire plant. In addition to the machinery violations, the department found serious hazards related to chemicals, hazardous and flammable substances, bloodborne pathogens, confined work spaces, electrical and fall protection. Many of the violations were corrected during the inspections.

The company has appealed the citations.

Photo credit: americanartmuseum / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Found on

“Lamestream Media” Enables Right-Wing Talking Points About Social Security Disability

Today's post comes from guest author Jay Causey, from Causey Law Firm.

By Jay Causey from Causey Law Firm

- - Screen Shot from Fair.org

Just in time for a scheduled meeting of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs to discuss the status of the Social Security Disability program (SSDI) on October 7th, on Sunday, October 6, CBS’ popular “news” show, 60 Minutes, aired "Disability USA" - a sensationalized program full of misleading and largely anecdotal information designed to convince viewers the program is riddled with fraud and on the brink of collapse. If you watched this program, and it is your sole source of information about Social Security Disability, you know essentially nothing about the actual operation of the program. You heard not a single word from disability recipients, their advocates, or from officials who administer the program, none of whom were invited to participate in the 60 Minutes piece.

...the 60 Minutes segment focused on some fraud in the program in one impoverished area of the country in order to paint disability recipients generally as the undeserving poor, slackers and frauds.

First, listening to the program you might not have understood that the average monthly benefit of about $1100 is not tax-payer money but earned credits for money paid into the system by the disabled worker. Then, in terms of the “shocking” growth of the disability rolls you heard CBS’s Steve Kroft and Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma natter on about, you didn’t hear that the statistical growth of the program is a direct function of the increase in population over the past 30 years, the aging of the baby-boomer population into their higher disability years, the entry of women into the work force in greater numbers, and similar demographic factors. Finally, you likely came away from the program thinking that qualifying for SSDI is a cakewalk, when the actual standards for disability result in denial of two-thirds of all applications, only 10% of those denials being reversed on appeal, and an overall figure of about 41% of applicants ultimately qualifying.

Completely ignored in this puff-piece for the right wing (Coburn is the lead Republican on the Senate Subcommittee for Investigations and has a long-standing, well-documented hostility to Social Security) is the shifting of responsibility for disability from workers’ compensation systems, where it properly belongs, to the Social Security Disability program because of the rollbacks in coverage and benefits in states’ workers’ comp programs across the country, all driven by right-wing and corporate interests. So, while SSDI faces potential exhaustion of its funds in the next few years (although this can be – and in the past has been – remedied by shifting funds from the Social Security old-age program), the liability insurance industry, which includes workers’ compensation carriers, is enjoying record profits over the last two years.

Similarly unmentioned was the impact of the worst economy in decades, shrinking the ability of disabled workers to find less physically challenging work.

As is typically the case with these types of “news” pieces, the 60 Minutes segment focused on some fraud in the program in one impoverished area of the country in order to paint disability recipients generally as the undeserving poor, slackers and frauds. CBS could have moderated the potential negative impact of its program by including interviews of SSA program officials or of spokespersons from some two dozen national disability advocacy organizations who asked to be heard on this show. It shamefully chose to ignore all such requests, and has diminished itself accordingly as a news organization.

Found on

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Voters Will Decide on Minimum Wage Hike - Impacting Workers Compensation Benefits

Workers' Compensation Rates are computed from the State's Average Weekly Wage (SAWW). NJ voters will an opportunity to vote on this landmark change in NJ law. Today's post was shared from njtvonline.org

The state’s current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. If you work a 40-hour week, that’s $290 a week, or $1160 a month, before taxes, in a region where the average monthly rent is $1,760. Take away food, transportation and other incidental costs and, well, you do the math. It’s why a broad coalition of labor, elected and other officials are pushing hard for Public Question 2,

which would change the state’s constitution to raise the minimum wage to $8.25, and tie future increases to the cost of living, something that newspaper vendor Tony White would welcome.

“It would be nice if was $8.25 for a lot of jobs out here because the minimum wage has been down for a long time. It’s time for the little people to make a little something, ya know? That’s all,” White, of Newark, said.

Tazia Treadwell knows about working for $7.25. She did it for a couple of years at a fast food restaurant just out of high school.

“After two, three months, I got a 10-cent raise, so I was at $7.35 an hour. After two years, no progress. I was was frustrated. I was just out of high school and I was at that stage where I wanted everything new, the latest of everything and I could barely do that,” Treadwell said.
Then came an...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

The Aggressor Rule Sometimes Makes Good Sense

In some jurisdictions, the one who initiates an assault is denied workers' compensation benefits. In others, it is not a bar to a claim as in California. One would expect that yet another change will be coming to the law in California. One would think that the conduct of this police officer gives rise to rethinking the concept of compensability. Today's post is shared from davisenterprise.com

The University of California and the former police officer who pepper-sprayed Occupy UC Davis protesters have reached a workers’ compensation settlement totaling $38,059.

John Pike, 40, of Roseville, suffered depression and anxiety brought on by death threats to him and his family that followed the Nov. 18, 2011, confrontation at an encampment on the Quad.

Administrative Law Judge Harter approved the settlement agreement on Oct. 16.

“This case has been resolved in accordance with state law and processes on workers’ compensation,” university spokesman Andy Fell said in an email message. Pike’s Sacramento attorney, Jason Marcus, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Bernie Goldsmith, a Davis attorney supportive of the student protesters, called it “interesting to see a dollars-and-cents compensation for universal revilement.”

“This sends a clear message to the next officer nervously facing off with a group of passive, unarmed students: Go on ahead. Brutalize them. Trample their rights. You will be well taken care of,” Goldsmith said.

The state’s Disability Evaluation Unit determines permanent disability ratings based on doctors’ reports. Richard Lieberman, a Piedmont psychiatrist acting as the agreed-upon expert, rated Pike ’s disability as “moderate,” according to a Jan. 5 psychiatric report released by the State Department of Industrial Relations in response to a public records request.

Pike faced...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

….

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson). 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.

Florida rejects workers' compensation rate hike

Workers' compensation insurance has been stressed under the on going US economic downturn. lower premiums, which are based on payrolls, and increasing medical costs, are significant causes. Despite the pressure of NCCI to increase the cost dramatically, FL has officially rejected that proposal. Today's post is shared from naplesnews.com.

Florida regulators are rejecting a proposed 1 percent hike in workers compensation insurance rates.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Wednesday announced that he won't approve the hike that had been requested by insurers that provide coverage for on-the-job injuries.
But McCarty says that his office would approve a slightly lower hike 0.7 percent if insurers resubmitted their request.
That hike on employers would take effect on Jan. 1.
If the hike is ultimately approved it would make the fourth straight year that workers' compensation insurance rates have increased.
The rate hike proposal was submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The council is a rating and data collection agency owned by insurance companies. It submits rate filings on their behalf.

[Click here to see the original post]

Found on

Woman was texting and driving when she caused fatal crash with trucker

Texting while driving creates an enhanced risk to millions of workers who carefully drive on the roads. While the Federal government has strictly enforced the no texting while driving rule, the states maintain a patchwork of confusing regulations and statutory prohibitions. Today's post is shared from nj.com.

A Rahway woman who crashed into a pick-up on Routes 1&9 two weeks ago, killing the truck’s driver, has became the first person in Essex County to be charged with vehicular homicide allegedly caused by texting, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said.

Jennifer Sahoye, 35, was initially charged with causing the Oct. 10 death of Carlos Carvalho, 58, while driving on a suspended license. But prosecutors say witnesses saw Sahoye texting when her Volvo sedan veered from the southbound express lanes of Routes 1&9, near the Route 78 interchange, into the southbound local lanes, striking Carvalho’s Ford pickup

Carvalho, a welder, was on his way home from work. He was ejected from the truck after it flipped over and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors say their investigation, aided by witnesses who stopped after the crash, confirmed Sahoye was texting at the time of the crash.

"A vehicle is a dangerous thing and driving requires the full attention of the driver," said Thomas Fennelly, the chief assistant prosecutor for Essex County. "Texting can take one's eyes off the road."
Carvalho's family did not find out Sahoye was alleged to be...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Electronic Filing in Workers Compensation: One National System

By Jon Gelman from Jon L Gelman LLC

Pennsylvania is down, New Jersey is up, and Florida is just ahead of the curve, on workers’ compensation docketing and statistical reporting programs. Reliability, accuracy and utility and necessary components to a model system.

Costs from development to deployment, to upgrade and usage become compounded by glitches and downtime. Redeveloping the wheel for every software browser upgrade and development merely adds to the cost and loss of time.

Nationally the best system has been the Federal Court Electronic Filing System (EFS) along with the public access system PACER. Handling a universal docket of civil, criminal and bankruptcy actions the system is stellar, and gets better with every new software upgrade

Even though there are many unique local District Courts, and Circuit Court of Appeals Rules, that require adherence, the system integrates functionality that makes it easy and consistent in filing and handling claims.

A universally consistent protocol for handling court related data would allow integration throughout all jurisdictions national. While workers’ compensation has its own particular issues in each jurisdiction, the basic theory and practice is essentially the same.

While some integration of data is universally being proposed under The Smart Act regulations, and other Medicare Secondary Payer Act requirements, the processes are national and universal data integration with an uniform patchwork of claims processes, is tedious and difficult to adoption by local jurisdictions at the present time.

Integration of information is not unusual. The major credit reports companies already have collected national individual data. Likewise, The Index Bureau collects data nationally on injuries and claims for the insurance companies. In fact, Federal agencies like the Social Security Administration already access this data.

The writing is obviously on the wall, and has been since CMS initially promulgated the Patel memorandum July 16, 2001, concerning both collection procedures and future medical allowances.

The tedium of prosecuting a Workers’ Compensation claim, and it’s ultimate adjudication, is an onerous task that seems to be getting much worse because of collection of data requirements and a transient population and multi-jurisdictional employers. Dual jurisdiction claims, collateral liens, pre-existing medical conditions, and the collection of medical data are also problematic. Cottages industries are now emasculating the workers’ compensation premium dollar by offering individual State solutions.

It is is time for the establishment of a national workers’ compensation docket system and case filing program that would integrate all jurisdictions and help the system stay an efficient, summary and remedial system that its crafter envisioned a century ago.

Found on

Questioning Statins for Older Patients

Limiting medication can reduce overall patient care costs. The efficacy of controlling cholesterol in the "very old" population is now being discussed. Today's post was shared from the NYTimes.com.

Should older adults take statins if they have elevated cholesterol but no evidence of heart disease? It’s a surprisingly controversial question, given the number of seniors taking statins.

Recently AMDA, a professional group representing physicians working in nursing homes, highlighted the issue in a list of five questionable medical tests and treatments. The list was drawn up as part of the national “Choosing Wisely” campaign, which alerts consumers to inappropriate or overused medical interventions, an effort that caregivers would do well to follow.

The standout item on the AMDA list: “Don’t routinely prescribe lipid-lowering medications in individuals with a limited life expectancy.” That means anyone older than 70, according to the medical society.

Dr. Hosam Kamel, an Arkansas geriatrician who is vice chair of AMDA’s clinical practice committee, said that there is scarce scientific evidence supporting the use of statins by 70- or 80-year-olds without pre-existing cardiovascular disease. Only a handful of studies have focused on outcomes (heart attacks, strokes, premature death) in this older population.

Most of the data on the benefits of statin use come from larger studies that looked at adults of varying ages. The results...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Steel company fined $115,400 by US Labor Department's OSHA for failing to abate workplace hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Jersey Shore Steel for four violations, including three failure-to-abate citations, at its Jackson facility. Proposed penalties total $115,400 after OSHA's follow-up inspection opened in April.

"By not abating past violations, Jersey Shore Steel keeps its employees vulnerable to hazards that can cause injuries and, possibly, death," said Paula Dixon-Roderick, director of OSHA's Marlton Area Office. "It's vital to correct all hazards immediately to protect workers at the facility."

The failure-to-abate notices, which carry $111,000 in penalties, relate to the company's failure to develop and implement a written lockout/tagout program that prevents inadvertent machine start-up; require fork truck operators to have their performance evaluated at least once every three years; and train workers to use portable fire extinguishers. A failure-to-abate notice applies to a condition, hazard or practice, found upon reinspection, that the employer was originally cited for and failed to correct.

The company was also cited for one repeat violation, with a $4,400 penalty, due to the lack of machine guarding on a press brake. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. A similar violation was cited in November 2012.

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/jersey_shore_steel_insp_900106_sept30.pdf*.

Jersey Shore Steel has requested an informal conference with the OSHA area director in Marlton.

Found on

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Great Coronary Angioplasty Debate: Giving Patients the Right to Speak | The Health Care Blog

Today's post was shared by The Health Care Blog and comes from thehealthcareblog.com

By Nortin Hadler, MD
Earlier this month, the editors of THCB saw fit to post my essay, “The End of the Era of Coronary Angioplasty.”
The comments posted on THCB in response to the essay, and those the editors and I have directly received, have been most gratifying. The essay is an exercise in informing medical decisions, which is my creed as a clinician and perspective as a clinical investigator.
I use the recent British federal guideline document as my object lesson. This Guideline examines the science that speaks to the efficacy of the last consensus indication for angioplasty, the setting of an acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Clinical science has rendered all other indications, by consensus, relative at best. But in the case of STEMI, the British guideline panel supports the consensus and concludes that angioplasty should be “offered” in a timely fashion.
I will not repeat my original essay here since it is only a click away. The exercise I display is how I would take this last consensus statement into a trusting, empathic patient-physician discourse. This is a hypothetical exercise to the extent that little in the way of clear thinking can be expected of a patient in the throes of a STEMI, and not much more of the patient’s caring community.
So all of us, we the people regardless of our credentials, need to consider and value the putative efficacy of angioplasty (with or without stenting) a priori. For me, personally, there is...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Richland: EPA fines DOE $115,000 over Hanford asbestos issue | Hanford news | Tri-CityHerald.com

Today's post was shared by Linda Reinstein and comes from www.tri-cityherald.com

The Department of Energy is being fined $115,000 for violations related to asbestos management after demolishing Hanford nuclear reservation buildings in 2009 and 2010.
The EPA inspector general issued an early-warning report in December 2011, saying that removal of asbestos in certain ways at Hanford and elsewhere potentially threatened health and safety.
The Hanford violations were discovered as a result of an EPA inspection and evaluation of compliance at Hanford with asbestos management rules that followed in 2012.
In March DOE and its regulators agreed to restrict the use of heavy equipment to demolish buildings that still have asbestos out of concern for worker health.

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Ronald Motley's Legacy Continues

Today's post was shared by Linda Reinstein and comes from www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org

Earlier this year, Ronald Motley, a South Carolina lawyer, who spearheaded lawsuits against big tobacco and asbestos industries passed away at the age of 68. Mr. Motley was a one-of-a-kind attorney and tireless advocate who, for so many decades, made such a huge difference in the lives of asbestos victims and their families. Today, his legacy proves to continue to have a lasting impact.
Today, on what would have been Motley Rice LLC co-founder Ronald Motley’s 69^th birthday, it was announced that the firm placed on The National Law Journal’s 2013 Plaintiff’s Hot List.
ADAO will continue to honor Mr. Motley’s legacy and his firm’s commitment to truth and justice as we continue our work to help asbestos victims in the United States, Canada, and the world.
Together, change is possible.
Linda Reinstein

[Click here to see the original post]

Found on

DePaolo's Work Comp World: Genetic Testing?!

Today's post was shared by WorkCompCentral and comes from daviddepaolo.blogspot.com

The reason lawmakers and regulators create rules that seem onerous and ponderous to the vast majority of us is because there are "outliers" that ruin it for everyone else because of indescribably selfish behavior.
There's always someone taking a new angle to take advantage of the liberal rules of workers' compensation for their own profit regardless of the social consequences. This seems particularly acute in California, but nevertheless occurs in other jurisdictions too.
Recently posted in the WorkCompCentral Forums was an inquiry as to whether anyone else in the community is starting to see bills for unsolicited services related to genetic testing for drug addition predisposition.
The author of the post, an attorney for the employer/carrier, says that the case in question had been settled. In preparing the settlement documents a review of California's Electronic Adjudication Management System database was conducted to identify all parties. Nearly all lien claims had been settled, but one remained stubbornly immovable (and I'm not even clear that the parties were ever properly served and/or noticed of this particular vendor until the end of the case).
For this one particular lien the claim file notes apparently show a request for billing and report after discovery of the vendor in the EAMS search. The carrier got fax copies of a bill and report with a demand for payment.
The bill was for $3,626.00 for the genetic testing.
According to the post, the initial report, based on an...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Jersey City Mayor Signs Country’s Seventh Paid Sick Days Law

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from thinkprogress.org

On Monday morning, Jersey City, NJ Mayor Steven Fulop signed the city’s paid sick days bill into law, which had been passed by the city council in September. The bill is now the seventh to become law in the country, joining New York City; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC as well as the state of Connecticut.
Employers in the city with 10 or more workers will now have to provide them with up to five days of paid sick leave a year, with workers earning a day off for each 30 days worked. Workers at smaller businesses will have the right to earn unpaid sick days. Over 30,000 workers who previously had no access to paid sick leave are expected to benefit.
The push for paid sick days legislation at the state and city level is growing. State-wide efforts are underway in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont. Newark, NJ and Tacoma, WA are also fighting for such bills, and an effort is underway in Washington, DC to expand the city’s current policy to tipped workers.
The evidence from those places that already have laws on the books shows that they are good for business and the economy. Job growth has been stronger under Seattle’s law and business growth is also strong. San Francisco’s law has strong business support and spurred job growth. Washington DC’s had no negative impact on business, while Connecticut’s has come with little cost and big potential upsides. Meanwhile, lost...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Copyright

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Electronic Filing in Workers Compensation: One National System

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles