A recent study by the McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment of the University of Ottawa finds that an increased risk of childhood leukemia is associated with the mother's exposure at work to pesticides.
"Childhood leukemia was associated with prenatal maternal occupational pesticide exposure in analyses of all studies combined and in several subgroups. Associations with paternal occupational pesticide exposure were weaker and less consistent. Research needs include improved pesticide exposure indices, continued follow-up of existing cohorts, genetic susceptibility assessment, and basic research on childhood leukemia initiation and progression."
A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Childhood Leukemia and Parental Occupational Pesticide Exposure, Donald T. Wigle, Michelle C. Turner, and Daniel Krewski
doi: 10.1289/ehp.0900582 (available at http://dx.doi.org/)
Online 19 May 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
C-Span TV: David Michaels Author of "Doubt is Their Product"
David Michaels, former Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety, and Health during the Clinton administration contends that corporations hire their own scientists to skew the safety records of certain products. He recently spoke at an event was hosted by the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. The speech was broadcast by C-Span TV.
David Michaels directs the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Mr. Michaels was formerly Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health during the Clinton administration. He received the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award in 2006. Michael authored Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.
National Grassroots Alliance Supports Improved Working Conditions
A swell of grassroots enthusiasm has been embodied in the recently formed Protecting Workers Alliance (PWA). The national coalition to protect workers’ health and safety is sweeping the country and being embraced by organizations from coast to coast as it advances its supports efforts to make the workplace safer.
Since its formation in February, PWA has established a unified agenda and begun has advocating for administrative and legislative changes that will help create good jobs in a safe occupational environment.
PWA is advancing a strong national policy agenda:
1. Put worker health and safety first by making the Protecting Workers on the Job agenda a top priority of the President and Congress.
2. Ensure health and safety protection of all workers through tough enforcement of existing regulations, new worker protections, and research.
3. Count all occupational injuries and illnesses and increase funding for Federal and State-based public health tracking programs.
4. Increase worker participation in workplace safety and health programs and protect workers from retaliation.
5. Eliminate disparities in the high rates of deaths, injuries and illnesses among all workers.
6. Reform workers’ compensation programs to ensure appropriate and equitable remedies for the costs of occupational injuries and illnesses for all workers.
7. Reduce or eliminate widespread use of toxic chemicals to protect workers on the job and to safeguard the communities in which we all work and live.
The group’s legislative agenda includes supporting, among other legislation:
Protecting America's Workers Act: HR 2067 to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for certain violators, and for other purposes.
National Commission on State Workers' Compensation Laws Act of 2009 HR 635 Introduced by Rep. Joe Baca, D-CA, Jan. 21, 2009.
Corporate Injury, Illness, and Fatality Reporting Act of 2009: HR 2113. To require the Secretary of Labor to prescribe regulations requiring employers with more than one establishment and not fewer than 500 employees to report work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses.
HR 242: A bill directing OSHA to issue regulations requiring "site-controlling" employers to record all injuries that occur on their sites, including temporary and contract workers. Sponsored by Rep. Gene Greene, D-TX. Introduced Jan 7, 2009.
HR 849 Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act of 2009. To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim and final occupational safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to combustible dust, and for other purposes.
The PWA steering committee is composed of wide spectrum of interests and causes from across the US who are all interested in creating a safer and healthier workplace. The PWA offers a newsletter service for those who wish to be kept up to date of the groups efforts.
Since its formation in February, PWA has established a unified agenda and begun has advocating for administrative and legislative changes that will help create good jobs in a safe occupational environment.
PWA is advancing a strong national policy agenda:
1. Put worker health and safety first by making the Protecting Workers on the Job agenda a top priority of the President and Congress.
2. Ensure health and safety protection of all workers through tough enforcement of existing regulations, new worker protections, and research.
3. Count all occupational injuries and illnesses and increase funding for Federal and State-based public health tracking programs.
4. Increase worker participation in workplace safety and health programs and protect workers from retaliation.
5. Eliminate disparities in the high rates of deaths, injuries and illnesses among all workers.
6. Reform workers’ compensation programs to ensure appropriate and equitable remedies for the costs of occupational injuries and illnesses for all workers.
7. Reduce or eliminate widespread use of toxic chemicals to protect workers on the job and to safeguard the communities in which we all work and live.
The group’s legislative agenda includes supporting, among other legislation:
Protecting America's Workers Act: HR 2067 to amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for certain violators, and for other purposes.
National Commission on State Workers' Compensation Laws Act of 2009 HR 635 Introduced by Rep. Joe Baca, D-CA, Jan. 21, 2009.
Corporate Injury, Illness, and Fatality Reporting Act of 2009: HR 2113. To require the Secretary of Labor to prescribe regulations requiring employers with more than one establishment and not fewer than 500 employees to report work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses.
HR 242: A bill directing OSHA to issue regulations requiring "site-controlling" employers to record all injuries that occur on their sites, including temporary and contract workers. Sponsored by Rep. Gene Greene, D-TX. Introduced Jan 7, 2009.
HR 849 Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosions and Fires Act of 2009. To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim and final occupational safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to combustible dust, and for other purposes.
The PWA steering committee is composed of wide spectrum of interests and causes from across the US who are all interested in creating a safer and healthier workplace. The PWA offers a newsletter service for those who wish to be kept up to date of the groups efforts.
NIOSH Proposes Special Cohort to Include Linden NJ Workers
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice of a decision to designate a class of employees for the Standard Oil Development Company in Linden, New Jersey, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On June 18, 2009, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC:
All AWE employees of the Standard Oil Development Company in Linden, New Jersey, during the period from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1945, while working for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, either solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.
This designation will become effective on July 18, 2009, unless Congress provides otherwise prior to the effective date.
Federal Register: June 30, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 124 Page 31279-31280
All AWE employees of the Standard Oil Development Company in Linden, New Jersey, during the period from August 13, 1942 through December 31, 1945, while working for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days, either solely under this employment or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.
This designation will become effective on July 18, 2009, unless Congress provides otherwise prior to the effective date.
Federal Register: June 30, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 124 Page 31279-31280
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Labor and Industry Join Forces to Change the Path of Health Care Delivery
The United States is now facing a crucial change, necessitated by economics, to the health care delivery system. Not since the movement initiated in the early 1900’s to embrace a national workers’ compensation system, has the nation faced such a critical turning point in health care and the identical parties expressed such a keen interest in change.
The nation’s largest private employer, Walmart (non-union), and the nation’s largest union representing health care workers, SEIU, as well as the influential policy think-tank, the Center for American Progress, delivered a letter to President Obama today, endorsing a mandate for employer and employee contribution for a health care plan.
Citing the Senate Finance Committee (Max Bacus (D-Montana, Chairman) that “health care expenditures are expected to consume nearly 20 percent of the GDP” by 2017, the collation seek, “…an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage.”
While the debate is being to flow in the direction of the adoption a “public plan” option, the “single payer system” has not yet been ruled out entirely. Funding continues to remain a concern.
It is anticipated that if a “public plan” is adopted, the workers’ compensation system will probably be targeted as an economic engine to contribute generated revenue through various reimbursement mechanisms in addition to outright payment reform including incentive based medicine. It is estimated that the plan's cost may amount to a $2 Trillion cost.
Cost shifting enforcement could be more strictly pursued. Additional fines, penalties and user fees, maybe assessed under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Even taxing workers’ compensation benefits may become an option if other employer provided health care benefits are also subject to tax.
The nation’s largest private employer, Walmart (non-union), and the nation’s largest union representing health care workers, SEIU, as well as the influential policy think-tank, the Center for American Progress, delivered a letter to President Obama today, endorsing a mandate for employer and employee contribution for a health care plan.
Citing the Senate Finance Committee (Max Bacus (D-Montana, Chairman) that “health care expenditures are expected to consume nearly 20 percent of the GDP” by 2017, the collation seek, “…an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage.”
While the debate is being to flow in the direction of the adoption a “public plan” option, the “single payer system” has not yet been ruled out entirely. Funding continues to remain a concern.
It is anticipated that if a “public plan” is adopted, the workers’ compensation system will probably be targeted as an economic engine to contribute generated revenue through various reimbursement mechanisms in addition to outright payment reform including incentive based medicine. It is estimated that the plan's cost may amount to a $2 Trillion cost.
Cost shifting enforcement could be more strictly pursued. Additional fines, penalties and user fees, maybe assessed under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act. Even taxing workers’ compensation benefits may become an option if other employer provided health care benefits are also subject to tax.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
OSHA Fines Metro North $300,000 for Retaliation Against Injured Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined Metro North Commuter Railroad Co. for retaliation against four employees who reported work-related injuries. The railroad was ordered by OSHA to take corrective actions and pay back wages, fees and a total of $300,000 in punitive damages."Railroad employees have the right to report occupational injuries and illnesses without fear that doing so will negatively affect their jobs, their health or their income," said Jordan Barab, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Safety and Health. "Retaliating against employees for exercising this basic, legally protected workplace right is unacceptable."
The employees were injured on the job in 2007 and 2008 and filed whistleblower complaints against Metro North Commuter Railroad Co. The complaints filed with OSHA alleged that the railroad disciplined them for reporting their injuries, interfered with their medical treatment plans and/or reclassified injuries from occupational to non-occupational.
OSHA investigated the incidents, held a hearing and fined the company under OSHA's The Whistleblower Protection Program.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Court Sets Proof Standard for Medical Bill Review
A challenging aspect of a workers' compensation hearing is the determination of what is the reasonable value of medical services. The Indiana Appellate Court has now established proof standards to implement legislative criteria. Washington Township Fire Department v. Beltway Surgery Center, No. 93A02-0811-EX-1006 (Ind. Ct. Appeals 2009)
The Indiana Act provides for the valuation of medical services by using a billing review service to calculate the pecuniary liability to a medical provider based on the 80th percentile standard. Ind. Code Section 22-3-3-52. The Court determined that the employer has the burden of proof to establish excessive charges,
Ind. Code Section 22-3-3-52:
(a) A billing review service shall adhere to the following requirements to determine the pecuniary liability of an employer or an employer‟s insurance carrier for a specific service or product covered under worker‟s compensation:
(1) The formation of a billing review standard, and any subsequent analysis or revision of the standard, must use data that is based on the medical service provider billing charges as submitted to the employer and the employer‟s insurance carrier from the same community. This subdivision does not apply when a unique or specialized service or product does not have sufficient comparative data to allow for a reasonable comparison.
(2) Data used to determine pecuniary liability must be compiled on or before June 30 and December 31 of each year.
(3) Billing review standards must be revised for prospective future payments of medical service provider bills to provide for payment of the charges at a rate not more than the charges made by eighty percent (80%) of the medical service providers during the prior six (6) months within the same community. The data used to perform the analysis and revision of the billing review standards may not be more than two (2) years old and must be periodically updated by a representative inflationary or deflationary factor. Reimbursement for these charges may not exceed the actual charge invoiced by the medical service provider. 7
(4) The billing review standard shall include the billing charges of all hospitals in the applicable community for the service or product.
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