Workers' Compensation

Friday, October 4, 2013

To cut costs, New York will close workers' comp hearing sites

The state is shutting down eight offices used for workers' compensation hearings, Capital has learned, a move that will save money but could inconvenience sick or injured working people.
Last month, the Workers Compensation Board informed a state employees union of its intention to close “customer service centers” in Lockport, Riverhead, Canton, Geneva, Oneonta, Monticello, Queensbury and Hornell. The centers are hearing sites for injured workers contesting the denial of their compensation claims. Their closure would force injured workers on those areas to travel longer distances or make phone appearances in support of their case.

"Since 2008, the Workers Compensation Board has been engaged on comprehensive review of its facilities to achieve savings and efficiencies, while at the same time ensuring the quality of services for stakeholders.

As part of this year’s enacted budget, the Workers Compensation Board agreed with the legislature to consolidate the functions of eight customer service centers that were largely unused or underutilized and in some instances housing no employees,” said board spokeswoman Rachel McEneny. “There are no layoffs associated with the consolidations and the Board is allowing any affected claimant to appear telephonically where possible.

The consolidation will result in $3,000,000 in savings to employers throughout the state over the next 10 years.”
A spokesman for the Civil Service Employees...

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Jury weighs talcum powder-cancer link

Talc has been considered a potentially carcinogenic substance.Tody's post is shared from argusleader.com

A jury has been asked to decide whether a Sioux Falls womans ovarian cancer was caused by her use of talcum-based body powder.

Deane Berg, 56, sued Johnson & Johnson in 2009, saying her 30-year use of the companys products for feminine hygiene caused her illness and that the products should have carried warning labels.

Bergs trial began almost two weeks ago in U.S. District Court in South Dakota. Jurors heard testimony from eight expert witnesses who sparred over decades of medical research on the topic and over the meaning of the talc found in Bergs cancer tissue.

Berg, whose cancer is in remission, wants jurors to award damages for medical expenses and punitive damages for failing to warn the public. The company wants jurors to reject the notion that the mineral, which is used in toothpaste, chewing gum and aspirin, carries any real danger for consumers.

During closing arguments Thursday morning, Bergs lawyers said talcum-based powders should carry a warning that notes the association between their use and increased risk of ovarian cancer.

Berg learned of the possible link after her diagnosis in 2006, from a brochure she was offered at Sanford USD Medical Center.

Studies dating as far back as 1971 have found an association. The International Agency For Research on Cancer lists talc as a 2B substance, meaning possibly carcinogenic to humans. Condom manufacturers stopped using the mineral in 1996, and a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary ceased using it in diaphragms that same...

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Federal Shutdown: Is Workers' Compensation Ready for Tropical Storm Karen?

With a Federal Government in a shutdown, will the State Workers' Compensation system be ready for a natural disaster? The public announcements indicate that FEMA will have to ramp up, but will other Federal agencies be ready and reactivated in time? Workers' Compensation will be stressed with emergency responders who become ill and injured as a result of hurricane related activities. One year almost to the Superstorm Hurricane Sandy and recovery efforts are still continuing. Time will tell.......

State emergency management officials on the U.S. Gulf Coast have been assured that the recent shutdown of the federal government will not affect the Federal Emergency Management Administration's response to Tropical Storm Karen.The storm is expected to come ashore late Saturday or early Sunday on the Gulf Coast. A hurricane watch has been issued from southern Louisiana to the western Florida Panhandle.

A hurricane watch means that winds exceeding 74 miles per hour (119 kilometers per hour) are possible within 36 hours. Although Karen could strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Gulf Coast, forecasters aren't certain that it will maintain that strength until it makes landfall.

Meanwhile, emergency management agencies in the area are conferring with FEMA officials as they prepare for the storm.

A call to FEMA's External Affairs office in Atlanta was answered by a recording saying that its staff had been furloughed because of the federal government shutdown. Calls to FEMA offices in the Gulf Coast region were answered by staffers not authorized to speak on the record. But state emergency management officials said they are talking to FEMA personnel and the federal agency is preparing to respond to the storm.

"Our director locally has been in touch with FEMA, and he's received every assurance that FEMA will support us," said Mike Steele, communications director for the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in Baton Rouge.

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Book: NFL denied concussion link to football

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from espn.go.com

Book: NFL Denied Concussion Link
The National Football League conducted a two-decade campaign to deny a growing body of scientific research that showed a link between playing football and brain damage, according to a new book co-authored by a pair of ESPN investigative reporters.
The book, "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth," reports that the NFL used its power and resources to discredit independent scientists and their work; that the league cited research data that minimized the dangers of concussions while emphasizing the league's own flawed research; and that league executives employed an aggressive public relations strategy designed to keep the public unaware of what league executives really knew about the effects of playing the game. ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated published book excerpts on Wednesday morning.
The NFL's whitewash of the debilitating neurological effects of playing football suffered by players began under former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who left office in 2006, but continued under his successor, current commissioner Roger Goodell, according to the book written by ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru.
The book, which will be released Tuesday by Crown Archetype, compares the NFL's two decades of actions on health and safety to that of Big Tobacco -- the group of cigarette-making corporations whose executives for years covered up the fact their products contained dangerous, addictive,...

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New York City workers have high pesticide exposure

Workers in New York have something else to worry about now...pesticide exposure. Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from www.environmentalhealthnews.org

New York City residents are more highly exposed to two types of widely used pesticides than the U.S. average, according to a new study from the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The findings “underscore the importance of considering pest and pesticide burdens in cities when formulating pesticide use regulations,” the researchers from the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wrote in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.New York City residents are more highly exposed to two types of widely used pesticides than the U.S. average, according to a new study.

Population-based biomonitoring of exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in New York City. Environmental Health Perspectives http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1206015/

Organophosphate metabolites were measured in the urine of 882 New Yorkers, while 1,452 residents were tested for pyrethroid metabolites. Some organophosphates have been banned in the United States in recent years, although many are still heavily used in agriculture. Pyrethroids are used indoors and outdoors in sprays and bug bombs to kill fleas, mosquitoes and other pests.

Among New Yorkers who were 20 to 59 years old in 2004, the highest exposed group had between two and six times more organophosphates in their urine...

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Hearing set for N.J. SC nominee

Today's post was shared by Legal Newsline and comes from legalnewsline.com

A hearing has been scheduled for one of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s state Supreme Court nominees.

According to NewsWorks, the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 17 on Judge Faustino Fernandez-Vina’s nomination to the state’s high court.

Christie, whose previous attempts to fill the vacant seats on the state’s high court have failed, nominated Fernandez-Vina in August.

The Cuban-born Republican has served as a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court since July 2004.

“In the words of the late Sen. John Adler, Judge Fernandez-Vina had ‘the highest level of competence and he’s just the total package,’” Christie said in August.

“Last year Chief Justice (Stuart) Rabner named Judge Fernandez-Vina the assignment judge of the Camden Vicinage. At that time, the chief justice said the following, ‘Judge Fernandez-Vina brings to the position of assignment judge a wealth of experience, a proven, practical approach to addressing issues, superb judgment and the respect of the bench and bar.’ Those are his words not mine.”

Christie said he couldn’t agree more.

“Beyond his time in public life Judge Fernandez-Vina had 22 years of private sector legal experience where he tried in excess of 100 cases and was a certified civil trial attorney certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court,” the governor said, noting...

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11 Barriers to Hand Hygiene Compliance

Today's post was shared by votersinjuredatwork and comes from www.beckersasc.com

Time pressure is one of the biggest reported barriers to hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, according to a study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Of 123 healthcare workers in a Thai hospital, compliance with the World Health Organization's "five moments" of hand hygiene was 23.2 percent by direct observation and 82.4 percent by self report. In a survey, the participants identified 11 barriers to compliance:

•   I hurry/emergent patient conditions — 45.5 percent
•   I don't see any dirt/I think it's not dirty — 24.4 percent
•   I forget — 19.5 percent
•   I'm busy/too many patients — 15.4 percent
•   It is inconvenient — 13.8 percent
•   I don't care — 8.1 percent
•   I'm lazy — 5.7 percent
•   I wear gloves/no direct contact with patients — 4.9 percent
•   There are adverse effects of soap/cleanser — 4.9 percent
•   It wastes time — 4.1 percent
•   My hands are clean — 2.4 percent
These reasons may help guide future hand hygiene interventions, according to the study.

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Friday, October 4, 2013