Medicare has announced the bonuses and penalties for specific US Hospitals holding them accountable on quality of services rendered to patients. Soon the program will be expanded to doctors.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
SeaWorld Safety Investigation Expanded by OSHA
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has filed a petition against SeaWorld of Florida LLC to comply with administrative subpoenas that require SeaWorld to provide three managers to be interviewed during OSHA's follow-up abatement inspection. SeaWorld has declined to provide personnel to answer questions regarding abatement or correction of a prior violation related to trainers' exposure to struck-by and drowning hazards when engaged in performances with killer whales.
"The employee testimony for the follow-up abatement inspection, required by a subpoena, allows OSHA inspectors to determine if SeaWorld employees continue to be exposed to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. "Abating safety and health hazards in the workplace needs to be as important to an employer as recognizing the hazards in the first place."
The follow-up inspection is being conducted as a result of previous violations that OSHA identified after a February 2010 drowning of a trainer who was grabbed and pulled under the water by a six-ton killer whale during what SeaWorld described as a "relationship session." In August 2010, OSHA issued SeaWorld citations related to the incident. SeaWorld contested OSHA's proposed violations and penalties.
A trial was held by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and in June an administrative law judge upheld OSHA's citations against SeaWorld. Subsequently, SeaWorld was required to abate cited hazards, including those specifically related to trainers working in proximity to the killer whales. However, since the order went into effect, SeaWorld has filed a petition with the review commission seeking additional time to abate the violation regarding trainers' interaction with killer whales. SeaWorld maintains that the petition, which is pending resolution, should restrict the scope of OSHA's follow-up inspection.
The enforcement action has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle of Florida, Orlando Division by the department's Atlanta Regional Solicitor's Office.
Read more about "SeaWorld" and safety issues:
Sep 25, 2011
This week a trial began in Florida between SeaWorld theme parks and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA). The trial is over several citations and a fine stemming from incidents in which killer whales ...
Feb 27, 2010
The terrible and tragic death of Daum Brancheau, the trainer who was attacked at SeaWorld by a killer whale, provides striking evidence that the present system, to make the workplace safer, is not working. The corporate ...
Mercury to be Removed by US EPA From Pompton River in NJ
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced its plan to remove mercury contamination from the sediment of the Acid Brook Delta of Pompton Lake in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey to levels that meet stringent standards to protect people’s health and the environment. The plan will go into effect as a modification of a permit, which legally requires the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. to fund and perform the work. Under the permit modification, the EPA will require DuPont to dredge at least 100,000 cubic yards of mercury contaminated sediment from the bottom of a 40-acre area of Pompton Lake and remove at least 7,800 cubic yards of contaminated soil from a shoreline area of the lake affected by DuPont’s past discharges. All of the sediment and soil will be sent to a licensed disposal facility.
Mercury in the sediment and soil can build up in the tissue of fish and other wildlife and pose a threat to people who eat them. Exposure to mercury can damage people’s nervous systems and harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune systems.
“The removal of mercury-contaminated sediment from Pompton Lake is a major step toward the recovery of the lake and the protection of people’s health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “The expanded dredging and other revisions in the final cleanup plan reflect the EPA’s commitment to protecting public health and improving environmental quality in Pompton Lakes.”
In November 2011, the EPA proposed a preliminary permit modification to remove contaminated sediment from the bottom of Pompton Lake and encouraged the public to comment on it. A public hearing on the proposed permit modification was held in January 2012. The final permit modification announced today incorporates changes that were made in response to comments from the public and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and additional technical information received from DuPont after the proposed permit modification was issued. A public meeting to discuss the permit modification for the Acid Brook Delta of Pompton Lakes will be held on January 15, 2013.
Under the final permit modification, the area of sediment that will be removed has been expanded by approximately 35% and sediment sampling is required to identify additional areas of the lake that may require the removal of mercury-contaminated sediment. In addition, DuPont is required to implement long-term monitoring of the effectiveness of the dredging, restore the soil between Lakeside Avenue and the edge of the lake, and perform an ecological risk assessment to determine whether additional action may be needed in the future. DuPont will be required to develop work plans for these requirements, which must be submitted to the EPA for approval. The cleanup will be financed and conducted by DuPont with EPA oversight.
The E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. operated the Pompton Lakes Works facility, located at 2000 Cannonball Road, from 1902 to April 1994. Products manufactured at the facility included explosive powder containing mercury and lead, detonating fuses, electric blasting caps, metal wires and aluminum and copper shells. The manufacturing operations and waste management practices contaminated soil, sediment and ground water both on and off-site. Lead and mercury from its operations were released into Acid Brook, which flows through the eastern part of the facility and discharges into the Acid Brook Delta of Pompton Lake. DuPont’s operations also contaminated the ground water with chlorinated volatile organic compounds, such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, cis 1,2-dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride.
The cleanup of the Acid Brook Delta requires a modification of the permit under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The final permit modification will become effective on February 4, 2013 pending any requests for appeal submitted prior to that date.
Plans to clean up the remaining areas of contamination will be proposed through future permit modifications after ongoing investigations by DuPont have been completed and reviewed by the EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Opportunities for public participation will continue to be provided through regular updates, public notices and public meetings.
The permit modification and relevant documents are available at the EPA’s project website at:http://www.epa.gov/region02/waste/dupont_pompton/index.html.
The public also can review documents related to the permit modification and cleanup at:
Pompton Lakes Public Library
333 Wanaque Avenue, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey
(973) 835-0482
http://www.pomptonlakeslibrary.org/index.htm
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Read more about "Mercury" and workers' compensation
Nov 26, 2012
Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine has released a guide to treatment for elemental mercury ((the pure form of the metal, when it is not combined with other ...
Mar 05, 2010
For example, nearly 70 years ago, on December 1, 1941, the U.S. Public Health Service ended mercury's use by hat manufacturers in 26 states through mutual agreements. The kinds of conditions that put hat-makers and ...
May 09, 2012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will discuss plans to address high levels of contaminants, including PCBs, mercury and dioxin, which are present in Passaic River mud adjacent to Riverside Park in Lyndhurst, New ...
Aug 09, 2012
They concluded that there was enough evidence of a link to classify it as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” placing it in the same category as lead and mercury. The long-awaited Interphone study, a major inquiry into the ...
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
NJ Workers Compensation Premiums Go Up for 2013
NJ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau has announced rate increases for 2013 as follows:
Revision of Rates and Rating Values – Effective January 1, 2013
The Commissioner of Banking and Insurance (“Commissioner”) has approved an 8.3%
increase in manual rates and rating values applicable to New Jersey workers compensation and employers liability insurance effective January 1, 2013 on a new and renewal basis.
SURCHARGES
New Jersey law mandates application of separate policyholder surcharges to finance the
Second Injury and Uninsured Employers’ Funds. Based on the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s estimate of 2013 Fund requirements, the policyholder surcharge percentages effective January 1, 2013, on a new and renewal basis to be applied to the modified premium are:
Second Injury Fund 6.76%
Uninsured Employers’ Fund 0.00%
Read more about "premiums" and Workers' Compensation:
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Revision of Rates and Rating Values – Effective January 1, 2013
The Commissioner of Banking and Insurance (“Commissioner”) has approved an 8.3%
increase in manual rates and rating values applicable to New Jersey workers compensation and employers liability insurance effective January 1, 2013 on a new and renewal basis.
SURCHARGES
New Jersey law mandates application of separate policyholder surcharges to finance the
Second Injury and Uninsured Employers’ Funds. Based on the Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s estimate of 2013 Fund requirements, the policyholder surcharge percentages effective January 1, 2013, on a new and renewal basis to be applied to the modified premium are:
Second Injury Fund 6.76%
Uninsured Employers’ Fund 0.00%
Read more about "premiums" and Workers' Compensation:
Sep 21, 2011
The team also discovered that for the entire 35-year timeframe of the study, rising premium rates were closely linked with the Dow Jones Industrial Average or Treasury bonds. As either the Dow or interest rates on Treasury ...
Jul 18, 2012
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that for the first time in four years, New York State employers will see a reduction in workers' compensation premium rates. The Governor asked for a reconsideration of the ...
Nov 13, 2012
The study, of what it calls "skyrocketing rates" yielding higher premiums, reveals that higher premiums are instead associated with decreases in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds.
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Football Concussions – An Epidemic Failure of Safety
Story after story is now emerging of the tragedy of head
concussions incurred during the sport of football. While the a battle is
brewing over jurisdictional issues involving filing Workers’ Compensation
claims in the State of California, a larger epidemic of product liability
claims is now emerging against Riddell, the major manufacturer of football
helmets.
The Sacramento Bee reported a sad story
about Dan the Morann, the former San Francisco 49ers first draft pick, who
suffered from tragic dementia.
One would think that workers’ compensation had some economic
incentive to provide a safer workplace. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The workers’ compensation system was crafted as a social insurance program to provide
benefits to workers who were injured in the course of their employment, and a
summary and expeditious fashion. The
cost of safety was never placed into the economic equation for workers’ compensation.
The cost of workers’ compensation is theoretically to be
passed upon the consumer as a cost of doing business. It is not a tool to
encourage a safe workplace.
On the other hand, the civil justice system affords injured
workers and their families another avenue to seek benefits by assessing
punitive damages against the manufacturer suppliers and distributors of unsafe
products. Unfortunately, very few jurisdictions permit claims against employers
to circumvent the exclusive bar incorporated into most state workers’
compensation acts.
Perhaps, it is time to rethink the Worker’s Compensation
program entirely and place it into a medical care delivery system that really works and utilize the civil litigation
system as a tool to enhance safety in the workplace to prevent future accidents
from happening.
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Read more about the “exclusivity bar” and Worker’s
Compensation
Jul 11, 2012
In a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) case pending in New York, a Federal Court ruled that the New Jersey law governing exclusivity of claims barred an employee from proceeding with an intentional tort claim against the ...
Jun 13, 2012
Court Rules Site of Accident Invokes Exclusivity Rule. English: Motor vehicle accident following a ve... A NJ appeals court ruled that a motor vehicle accident cause by a co-worker in the emplyers' parking lot, before work had ...
Apr 09, 2010
A Federal Judge, who is managing the Multi-District Asbestos Litigation, has ruled that the exclusivity doctrine defeats the application of the dual capacity doctrine where the manufacturer's corporation was merged into the ...
Jun 27, 2012
Willful OSHA Violation Alone Not Enough Alone to Circumvent the Exclusivity Doctrine. "New Jersey's Workers' Compensation Act (the Act), N.J.S.A. 34:15-1 to -128.5, provides a prompt and efficient remedy for an employee's ...
9/11 Rescue Workers At Increased Risk for Cancer
Rescue and recovery workers at the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack site have been reported to be at greater risk of certain cancers. The study followed a group of workers who have been exposed to toxic dust and fumes following the attack in New York City.
The study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported an increased incidence of prostate and thyroid cancers, plus multiple myeloma.
Benefits are available under The Zadroga 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund Benefit Program. The law was enacted by the US Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama about 3 years ago.
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Read more about The Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Benefit Program
The study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported an increased incidence of prostate and thyroid cancers, plus multiple myeloma.
Benefits are available under The Zadroga 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund Benefit Program. The law was enacted by the US Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama about 3 years ago.
....
Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ, helping injured workers and their families for over 4 decades, is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
Read more about The Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Benefit Program
Oct 19, 2012
The lawmakers wrote in a September 28th letter to OMB Acting Director Zients, “[W]e all agree that applying sequestration to these two programs [established by the James Zadroga 9-11 Health and Compensation Act] does ...
Feb 16, 2011
On January 2, 2011, President Obama signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (“Zadroga Act”) providing a total of $4.3 billion in health benefits and financial compensation for victims, responders, and ...
Jun 21, 2011
"The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 reopens the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 to provide compensation to those who were physically injured or who died in the immediate ...
Feb 24, 2011
The study may significantly increase the potential benefits that utility workers may obtain under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (“Zadroga Act”) providing a total of $4.3 billion in health benefits and ...
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