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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query distracted. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, February 11, 2011

Distracted Driving Workers Compensation Claim Draws Major Public Attention

A workers compensation claim filed by a state trooper for injuries he sustained while texting and speeding 126 miles per hour that resulting in a fatal accident with oncoming teenagers, a driver and a passenger, has drawn media attention. An effort to hold a hearing, "on the sly with no press," before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission is now receiving coverage by news organizations including; the Associated Press, the Belleville News Democrat, the Courthouse News Service, and the ABA Journal


Accidents caused by distracted driving are creating an emerging challenge for workers' compensation court to adjudicate. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is following the lead of the US Department of Labor by encouraging employers to ban cell phone use while operating vehicles. An outright prohibition and supporting legislation may lead to the prohibition of workers' compensation benefits in many jurisdictions in the near future unless more global and radical action is taken to re-mediate this dangerous activity.

The state trooper pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide last year. He has since resigned from his job.


The attempt to conceal the hearing of the Illinois troop was the subject of internal e-mails reported by the Belleville News Democrat. Public commenting was removed from the on-line report because of abuses. No hearing date or location has been reported yet for the compensation hearing.

Related Articles:

NIOSH Supports Efforts to Ban Distracted Driving
Cell Phone Safety and Workers Compensation
The Trend to Exclude Distracted Driving from Workers Compensation Coverage
Put it Down - Friday April 30th
Driving While Distracted Compared to DUI
Are Driving Distractions Within the Course of Employment?
Employee Cell Phone Chat Results in $5.2 Million Payment to Widow by Employer

Monday, August 1, 2011

Employers Risks Increase From Cell Phone Use

The results of a recent survey of US construction industry managers reflects that employers are now facing an increased risk of lawsuits for damages caused by accidents that their  employees have had while using a cell phones while driving at work. The survey demonstrates that the passive action by employers, by merely having a written cell phone policy, is ineffective to stop distracted driving accidents caused by cell phone use.

The study, published by Zoom Safer Inc. , reveals that 72.1% of construction companies already have a written policy restricting employee cellphone use while driving. The findings of the survey disclose that 25.2% of the companies have knowledge or evidence that employee vehicle crashes occurred as a result of distractions arising from the use of cell phones while driving. The economic consequences for those companies could  be severe since 10.8% of the companies responding to the survey reported that the accidents have resulted in lawsuits against the employer for employee's use of the a cell phone while driving.

While workers' compensation is a no fault system of insurance, the surge of claims caused by distracted driving by employees, will ultimately result in severe economic consequences to the employer. It is more than obvious that the economic liability to employers will be a driving force for employers to take a more active roll in curbing cell phone use, and for insurance carriers to reconsider the the need to transferability to employers to reduce distracted driving claims.

For over 3 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.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Texting a Message to A Driver Imposes Liability for an Accident

In an unanimous decision a NJ Appellate Court held a texter potentially liable for causing a motor vehicle accident:

"The issue before us is not directly addressed by these
statutes or any case law that has been brought to our attention.
"We must determine as a matter of civil common law whether one
who is texting from a location remote from the driver of a motor
vehicle can be liable to persons injured because the driver was
distracted by the text. We hold that the sender of a text
message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by
texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to
know that the recipient would view the text while driving and
thus be distracted.

"In this appeal, we must also decide whether plaintiffs have
shown sufficient evidence to defeat summary judgment in favor of
the remote texter. We conclude they have not. We affirm the
trial court's order dismissing plaintiffs' complaint against the
sender of the text messages, but we do not adopt the trial
court's reasoning that a remote texter does not have a legal
duty to avoid sending text messages to one who is driving.

"We conclude that a person sending text messages has a 
duty not to text someone who is driving if the texter knows, or 
has special reason to know, the recipient will view the text 
while driving. But we also conclude that plaintiffs have not 
presented sufficient evidence to prove that Colonna had such 
knowledge when she texted Best immediately before the accident.

LINDA KUBERT AND DAVID
KUBERT,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
KYLE BEST, SUSAN R. BEST,
EXECUTRIX OF THE ESTATE OF
NICKOLAS J. BEST, DECEASED,
Defendants,
and
SHANNON COLONNA,

Defendant-Respondent.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-1128-12T4
August 27, 2013
….

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.

Read more about "texting" and workers' compensation:
Jul 31, 2009
New technology encroaching upon the workplace has been both a help and a hindrance. Recent studies add to the growing volumes of data reporting that the use of cell phones while driving provides a significant distraction ...
Feb 11, 2011
A workers compensation claim filed by a state trooper for injuries he sustained while texting and speeding 126 miles per hour that resulting in a fatal accident with oncoming teenagers, a driver and a passenger, has drawn ...
Apr 29, 2011
CDC urged employers to prohibit texting while driving. A safety initiative by employers will go along way to reducing workers' compensation costs. "What is already known on this topic? Highway transportation crashes are the ...
Apr 18, 2011
Following the policy announced by President Obama in his Executive Order banning texting while driving, OSHA is calling upon all employers to ban texting while driving. It is the intention of OSHA to provide education and ...

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cell Phones Usage For Commercial Interstate Drivers to be Banned

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposes to restrict the use of hand-held mobile telephones, including hand-held cell phones, by drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) while operating in interstate commerce. Cell phones have become a major cause of distracted driving accidents resulting in an increase of workers' compensation claims by employees as well as liability lawsuits against employers directly.

Read the proposed Federal Rule: Final Rule: Drivers of CMVs: Restricting the Use of Cellular Phones

"FMCSA and PHMSA are amending the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to restrict the use of hand-held mobile telephones by drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). This rulemaking will improve safety on the Nation’s highways by reducing the prevalence of distracted driving-related crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving drivers of CMVs. The Agencies also amend their regulations to implement new driver disqualification sanctions for drivers of CMVs who fail to comply with this Federal restriction and new driver disqualification sanctions for commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders who have multiple convictions for violating a State or local law or ordinance on motor vehicle traffic control that restricts the use of hand-held mobile telephones. Additionally, motor carriers are prohibited from requiring or allowing drivers of CMVs to use hand-held mobile telephones." read more...

.......
For over 3 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.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Employers Face a Triple Legal Threat for Distracted Driving Claims


Employers usually make an "after the fact" reaction to cell phone use that the result in distracted driving accidents. The mounting liability for employers, a triple economic threat, may soon change their attitude to adopt an improved cell phone safety culture.


Employers who have no policy in-place or enforcement protocol, passive or active, seem to be in the majority according to a recently released survey conducted by ZoomSafer Inc. The company offers several products to actively stop cellphone use while driving. Their survey of over 500 business managers reveals that 32% of companies have knowledge or evidence of vehicle cashes that have occurred as a result of distractions stemming from employee use of cell phone while driving.  Of  the 54% of the companies with a defined cell phone policy, more than half, 27.3%, created that policy only after an incident occurred.

Employers are now faced with a triple threat of legal actions including: workers' compensation claims from their employees, liability law suits from the innocent individual who was injured, and now an OSHA fine. It is anticipated that these economic  factors will have a major impact in creating an improved cellphone safety culture.

For over 3 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.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Truck Crash That Kills 11 Results in Call For A National Cellphone Ban

Citing distraction from the use of a mobile phone by the driver of an 18-wheel semi truck as the probable cause of a crash that killed 11 people, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended banning the use of mobile phones by commercial drivers except in emergencies. Accidents arising from the use of cell phone are resulting major liability & workers' compensation problems for employers.

"Distracted driving is becoming increasingly prevalent, exacerbating the danger we encounter daily on our roadways," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. "It can be especially lethal when the distracted driver is at the wheel of a vehicle that weighs 40 tons and travels at highway speeds."

On March 26, 2010, at about 5:14 a.m. CDT, near Munfordville, Kentucky, a truck-tractor semitrailer combination unit driven by a 45-year-old male departed the left lane of southbound Interstate 65, crossed a 60-foot-wide median, struck and overrode a cable barrier system, entered the northbound travel lanes, and struck a 15-passenger van, driven by a 41-year-old male and occupied by 11 passengers (eight adults, two small children, and an infant). The truck driver and 10 of the 12 occupants of the van were killed.

Investigators determined that the driver used his mobile phone for calls and text messages a total of 69 times while driving in the 24-hour period prior to the accident. The driver made four calls in the minutes leading up to the crash, making the last call at 5:14 a.m. CDT, coinciding with the time that the truck departed the highway.

The Safety Board also determined that the median barrier system, which had recently been installed following another cross-median fatal accident on the same section of I-65, contributed to the severity of the accident because it was not designed to redirect or contain a vehicle of the accident truck's size. Because median crossover accidents involving large vehicles are so deadly, the NTSB made recommendations regarding the use of appropriately designed median barriers on roadways with high volumes of commercial vehicles.

At the meeting today, the NTSB issued 15 new safety recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), all 50 states, and the District of Columbia. The Safety Board also reiterated two previously issued recommendations to the FMCSA.

A synopsis of the NTSB report, including the probable cause, findings, and a complete list of all the safety recommendations, is available on the NTSB's website. The NTSB's full report will be available on the website in several weeks.

RELATED MATERIAL

Board meeting announcement (9/8/11)

Investigative update (5/14/10)

Launch of investigative team to accident site (3/26/10)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Cell Phone Safety and Workers Compensation

Workers' Compensation benefits may soon be denied to employees involved in motor vehicle accidents because of the unauthorized use of cell phones while driving within the course of their employment. As the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) continues to educate Americans with overwhelming statistical evidence that distracted driving is a major cause of accident, the denial of benefits to cell phone users may become a major incentive to create a safer work environment.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Transportation is leaning toward banning all use of cell phones by drivers. At the second national USDOT summit on the increased hazards of the use of cell technology  a major campaign was launched to encourage employers to outright  ban the use of cell phones by employees while working.

Employers have become increasingly concerned over employee "cognitive distraction" caused by the use of cell phones in motor vehicles as more data has become available associating driver cell phone use with accidents. Methods of enforcement will include the use of traffic cameras as the system already hss the capability of detecting drivers who are using telephones while driving. Evidentially, telephone billing records produced post accident can be used to corroborate the fact that an employee was using a telephone while working.

The precedent of using the workers compensation acts to make occupational environments safer is already established. The denial of workers' compensation benefits for unsafe actions by employees has previously been incorporated into law and has been an economic incentively for employers to reduce costs. Employees who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and those who fail to use employer provided safety devices, have already been denied benefits in some jurisdictions.

For over 3 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 work related accident and injuries.

Friday, September 2, 2011

When the Boss Calls

The use of cells phones while driving still remains a serious problem as drivers continue to ignore laws throughout the country. Unenforced and unenforceable laws throughout the nation aren't meeting the well intentioned goal of restricting their use. A major excuse is the need to use it for work and my "boss" required the employee to use it.

The epidemic of distracted driving continues to spread. Economic consequences are not yet frequent enough and severe enough to change the culture of abuse. Industry still hasn't taken the bold steps required to solve the problem.

Even though the genie of the "car phone" is out of the bottle, carefully engineered technology can resolve the problem. The same companies that brought us the unhealthy combination of cell phones and distracted driving can engineer the cure.

Employers seem to lack the economic motivation to take action. Employers who insit on their use for employment reasons can be compared to those employers who remove a machine guard to increase production at the cost of injury. It is senseless and tragic to insist that employees are required to us cellphones for employment. It is time that mandatory technology safeguards be implemented to curb abuse and avoid trajic and unnecessary accidents.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Do Cities Need Texting Zones?

This post is shared from Nicole Ferraro, Future Cities from www.informationweek.com

This week, New York's governor announced a plan to put "texting zones" on state highways. It got me thinking about whether cities need to do the same.

First, a bit about the news: In an effort to reduce the number of distracted drivers on the roads of New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo revealed a plan to put "texting zones" on the New York State Thruway and state highways, where drivers can pull over and respond to text messages.

This is, in part, a response to the fact that New York has seen a 365% increase in tickets issued to distracted drivers between the summers of 2012 and 2013 (In 2013, 16,027 people were pulled over for talking on cellphones, and 5,553 for texting, as compared to 4,284 and 924, respectively, in 2012).

As Cuomo said in a statement, "With this new effort, we are sending a clear message to drivers that there is no excuse to take your hands off the wheel and eyes off the road because your text can wait until the next Texting Zone."

Distracted driving is a huge issue for cities. Indeed, just last week we discussed a social media campaign launched by the Mayor of Houston, Texas, to unite Texan cities against texting while driving. With pedestrian death on the rise in cities across the US, there's an absolute need to curb driver distractions.

However, there's something about Cuomo's plan that bugs me -- mainly that, in a way, it caves to the compulsion drivers have to...
[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Monday, November 5, 2012

OSHA urges hurricane recovery workers to protect themselves against hazards


The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is urging workers and members of the public engaged in Hurricane Sandy cleanup and recovery efforts in New York, New Jersey and the New England states to be aware of the hazards they might encounter and the steps they should take to protect themselves.
"Storm recovery workers are working around the clock to clean up areas impacted by the storm," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's New York regional administrator. "We want to make sure that workers are aware of the hazards involved in cleanup work and take the necessary precautions to prevent serious injuries."
OSHA field staff members are providing safety assistance, technical support, and information and training to those involved in the recovery efforts. For more information about unsafe work situations, workers and the general public can contact OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).
For more information about protecting workers during Hurricane Sandy recovery, visithttp://www.osha.gov/sandy/index.html. This comprehensive website offers fact sheets, concise "quick cards," frequently asked questions, safety and health guides, and additional information in English and Spanish.
Cleanup work can involve restoring electricity, communications, and water and sewer services; demolition activities; removal of floodwater from structures; entry into flooded areas; cleaning up debris; tree trimming; structural, roadway, bridge, dam and levee repair; use of cranes, aerial lifts and other heavy equipment; hazardous waste operations; and emergency response activities.
Inherent hazards may include downed electrical wires, carbon monoxide and electrical hazards from portable generators, fall and "struck-by" hazards from tree trimming or working at heights, being caught in unprotected excavations or confined spaces, burns, lacerations, musculoskeletal injuries, being struck by traffic or heavy equipment, and drowning from being caught in moving water or while removing water from flooded structures.
Protective measures include evaluating the work area for all hazards; assuming all power lines are live; using the right personal protective equipment (hard hats, shoes, reflective vests, safety glasses); conducting exposure monitoring where there are chemical hazards; following safe tree cutting procedures to prevent trees from falling on workers; and using fall protection and proper ladder safety when working at heights.
For additional information on grants, cleanup efforts and recovery resources, visit the Labor Department's Hurricane Recovery Assistance Web page, which is being continuously updated at http://www.dol.gov/opa/hurricane-recovery.htm. Also, a checklist of activities to be undertaken before, during and after a hurricane is available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes.

Read More About Safety

Jan 17, 2012
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published a white paper urging that States implement injury and illness prevention programs. Citing statistics of the consequences of industrial accidents and injuries ...
Jun 21, 2011
Sun Exposure, Prevention and Workers Compensation. The first day of summer brings attention to working outside, sun exposure and the risk of skin cancer. Workers Compensation coverage offers a unique opportunity to ...
Mar 29, 2011
Symposium on Prevention of Occupationally-Related Distracted Driving. Distracted driving (including texting while driving and cell phone use) is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes. Many workers may be distracted while...
Jun 30, 2011
The initiative, with funds from the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund, is aimed at improving workplace environments so that they support healthy lifestyles and reduce risk factors for chronic diseases like...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Federal Summit Planned for Distracted Driving

The problem of the increase in accidents on the road caused by distracted drivers will now be the subject of a Federal summit. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced a summit in Sate September.

“If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough,” said Sec. LaHood. “We’ve learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results. That’s why this meeting with experienced officials, experts and law enforcement will be such a crucial first step in our efforts to put an end to distracted driving.”

Yet to be determined is how this new concern will impact State Workers' Compensation programs.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Driving While Distracted Compared to a DUI


A growing momentum is now taking hold that is comparing driving while distracted (DWD) to driving under the influence (DUI). Over 200 pieces of legislation have now been offered nation wide to prohibit such activities.

“People are starting to see it like drunk driving, and that’s the comparison we need to continue to make,” said Steve Farley, an Arizona state representative. The next step will be a determination whether State workers’ compensation law will consider the activity outside the course of employment or mandated by statute as  exclusion from coverage.

The NY Times has reports that 22% of all drivers talk of their phone while driving and DWD accounts for 2,600 deaths per year and 570,000 injuries.

Friday, April 29, 2011

CDC Urges Employers to Prohibit Cell Phone Use While Driving

The US Centers of Disease Control (CDC) released its annual census of work related fatalities and identified cell phone use as a major cause of employee deaths. CDC urged employers to prohibit texting while driving.  A safety initiative by employers will go along way to reducing workers' compensation costs.


"What is already known on this topic?
Highway transportation crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States.


"What is added by this report?
Occupational highway transportation fatality rates declined 2.8% annually during 2003–2008, and groups at greatest risk for occupational highway transportation deaths (e.g., workers aged ≥55 years and truck occupants) differ from those identified for highway transportation deaths in the general motoring public.


"What are the implications for public health practice?
Employers need to know more about the fatality risks to workers from highway transportation crashes, and employer-based strategies (e.g., requiring the use of safety belts in fleet vehicles, restricting cellular telephone use while driving, and allowing for adequate travel time)


This is entirely consistent with findings reported by Jeffrey S. Hickman, Ph.D, of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.  A driver while texting has a 23.24 times chance of having a motor vehicle accident.

The new initiative by US OSHA to focus on both education and enforcement is a consistent and rational approach to lowering transportation fatalities. OSHA recently announced its intent to fine employers who permit and encourage texting while driving.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Truck driver was looking at phone in deadly crash

Distracted driving continues to be a constant cause of accidents in the workplace. Workers' compensation laws and policies have not been modified to encourage the non-use of cellphones. Federal legislation on the other hand outlaws their use. Today's post is shared from azcentral.com

The semi-truck that crashed into several police and fire vehicles, killing an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer in early May, was “tossing cars around like they were toys,” according to one witness statement.
Officer Tim Huffman, 47, was killed on May 6 while investigating an earlier crash on Interstate 8, about 40 miles east of Yuma. An 18-wheeler driven by Jorge Espinoza, 33, had plowed into Huffman’s patrol car and several other vehicles at about 5 p.m.
Espinoza, who faces 20 felony charges including second-degree murder, was on his cell phone at the time of the collision, according to 600 pages of case files obtained by The Arizona Republic on Friday.
The documents and a video from an in-dash camera revealed that Espinoza was on Facebook looking at pictures of provocatively dressed women at the time of the wreck.
Espinoza, who pleaded not guilty in June, told police he was looking over his shoulder at a passing truck when suddenly he felt the violent jolt from the crash. Espinoza was not injured.
He told police he never saw the multiple DPS and fire department vehicles on the roadway, or an officer frantically waving his arms trying to get his attention before he jumped out of the way.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Transportation Accidents: Data Recorders Will Soon Define Compensability of Accidents

Workers' compensation claims are often defined by whether the accident arose out of and in the course of the employment. New technology in the coming years maybe become critical evidence in determining the casual relationship of transportation accidents as well as whether the employee deviated from the employment at the time of the event.
Event Data Recorder


"....at the center of a growing debate over a little-known but increasingly important piece of equipment buried deep inside a car: the event data recorder, more commonly known as the black box.

"About 96 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States have the boxes, and in September 2014, if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has its way, all will have them.

"The boxes have long been used by car companies to assess the performance of their vehicles. But data stored in the devices is increasingly being used to identify safety problems in cars and as evidence in traffic accidents and criminal cases. And the trove of data inside the boxes has raised privacy concerns, including questions about who owns the information, and what it can be used for, even as critics have raised questions about its reliability.


Click here to read the entire article, "A Black Box for Car Crashes" NY Times

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Next Wave of Workers Compensation Claims: WHO Calls Cell Phones a Potential Cancer Risk

After years of review, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the radio frequencies utilized by cell phones as possibly carcinogenic to human thereby opening the door to potential wave of workers' compensation occupational disease claims for  cancer of the brain. The increase risk has been identified for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer .

The research has been mounting concern about the possibility of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by wireless phones. The number of mobile phones in use is estimated at 5 billion annually. The Working Group did not quantitate the risk; however, one study of past cell phone use (up to the year 2004), showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10‐year period).

The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has been meeting from May 24 through May 31 in Lyon, France to access the potential carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields.

The IARC Monograph Working Group discussed and evaluated the available literature on the following exposure categories involving radiofrequency electromagnetic fields:

  •  occupational exposures to radar and to microwaves; 
  •  environmental exposures associated with transmission of signals for radio, television and wireless telecommunication; and 
  •  personal exposures associated with the use of wireless telephones. 
A report summarizing the main conclusions of the IARC Working Group and the evaluations of the carcinogenic hazard from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (including the use of mobile telephones) will be published in The Lancet Oncology in its July 1st issue.

Cells phones have emerged as a significant issue in workers' compensation claims since their use has been a major cause of distracted driving resulting in many serious and fatal accidents on the job. The WHO/IARC report has the potential of causing a major new wave of workers' compensation claims for cancer.


For over 3 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.

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