National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries 2005

A total of 5,702 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2005, down

about 1 percent from the revised total of 5,764 fatal work injuries recorded in 2004. The rate at

which fatal work injuries occurred in 2005 was 4.0 per 100,000 workers, down slightly from a

rate of 4.1 per 100,000 in 2004.

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries has been conducted each year since 1992. The

numbers reported in this release are preliminary and will be updated in April 2007.

Press Release: Aug 10, 2007 - National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2005
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf

Additional Information:
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2005

Text version of entire news release

Insurance Industry Again Offers MSP Legislation That Would Discourage Workers' Compensation Periodic Payments

After a failed attempt in the last Congress, the Insurance Industry has again offered similar legislation to encourage "lump sum" settlements in Workers' Compensation hearings, H.R.2549, and circumvent reimbursement of the ailing Medicare program. This legislation failed to gain acceptance in the last Congress as it did not receive the support of interest groups involved in preserving the Medicare system and Labor who continues to support a periodic benenfit system in Workers' Compensation. The proposal would encourage the dismantling of the current Workers' Compensation system in favor of lump sum benenfits. Leading commentators also oppose such legislation.

"In some jurisdictions, the excessive and indiscriminate use of the lump-summing device has reached a point at which it threatens to undermine the real purposes of the compensation system. Since compensation is a segment of a total income insurance system, it ordinarily does its share of the job only if it can be depended on to supply periodic income benefits replacing a portion of lost earnings. If a partially or totally disabled worker gives up these reliable periodic payments in exchange for a large sum of cash immediately in hand, experience has shown that in many cases the lump sum is soon dissipated and the worker is right back where he or she would have been if workers' compensation had never existed."
[8 Larson's Workers' Compensation Law, § 132.07[1] at 132-17 (2006).]

See: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02549:

Deadline Extended for World Trade Center Responders and Volunteers to Register for Workers' Compensation Benefits

Deadline Extended for World Trade Center Responders and Volunteers to Register for Workers' Compensation Benefits
Workers' Compensation Board Chair Donna Ferrara applauded the New York State Legislature and Governor Eliot Spitzer for giving World Trade Center responders until August 2008 to file the paperwork needed to claim workers' compensation benefits if they become ill in the future.

"Those who responded to the 9/11 disaster as workers or volunteers have another year to let us know they were on site," Ferrara said. "We want to make sure they preserve their eligibility should they become ill in the future. I congratulate the Legislature and Governor Spitzer for their swift action in passing and signing into law this very important legislation."

The law (S.4067/A.4940), which went into effect July 3, 2007, allows people who worked or volunteered at the World Trade Center to register with the Workers' Compensation Board and reserve the right to claim benefits if they become ill at a later date. It amends workers' compensation law §162 by giving those who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean-up until Aug. 14, 2008, to file a WTC-12 form.

While it is unclear how many people participated in the rescue, recovery and clean-up of the World Trade Center, more than 19,000 people have filed a WTC-12 form, registering as responders and volunteers.

For more information, or to download a copy of the form, visit http://www.wcb.state.ny.us

Workers' Compensation News - July 10, 2007, Vol. 5 Issue 107

Workers' Compensation News - July 10, 2007, Vol. 5 Issue 107

FLORIDA EXPANDS INTENTIONAL TORT EXCEPTION Employee's injury was substantial certainty from employer's failure to respond to requests for new ladder did not require proof that employer concealed danger. "Even though case law on the intentional tort exception to workers' compensation immunity is devoid of any defined test that will establish substantial certainty as a matter of law, it is evident that concealment of the dangerous condition is only one of several factors in a nonexclusive list. " Bakerman v The Bombay Company, ___So. 2d____, 2007 WL 1774420 (Fla.), decided June 21, 1007

OSHA ORDERED TO RELEASE TOXIC EXPOSURE DATABASE — More than 25 Years of Workplace Sampling Yields Public Health Research Bonanza Washington, DC — The U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has wrongfully withheld data documenting years of toxic exposures to workers and its own inspectors, according to a federal court ruling posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, the world’s largest compendium of measurements of occupational exposures to toxic substances - more than 2 million analyses conducted during some 75,000 OSHA workplace inspections since 1979 - should now be available to researchers and policymakers. Each year, an estimated 40,000 U.S. workers die prematurely because of exposures to toxic substances on the job. Press Release: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=882 Decision: http://www.peer.org/docs/dol/07_02_07_finkel_foia_ruling.pdf


ASBESTOS: Travelers Settles AC&S Claims The Travelers Cos. Inc. said today it has settled litigation with ACandS Inc., a former distributor and installer of asbestos products, for $449 million.http://www.courant.com/business/hc-trav-litig,0,1651056.story

ASBESTOS: NO SAFE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE Cong. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) held a hearing on June 25 on the federal government’s response to the hazardous air contaminants that polluted lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. The featured witness was former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who was in the hot seat for her claims that the air in NYC was safe to breathe. Much less attention was paid to former OSHA assistant secretary John Henshaw, who sat next to Whitman, but was left largely unscathed by the questioning. At least one Henshaw exchange deserves attention. The former OSHA chief insisted there are “safe levels of exposure to asbestos.” FYI: The WHO’s policy statement on the elimination of asbestos-related disease is here and the Institute of Medicine’s report on Asbestos: Selected Cancers (2007) is here. http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/safe-levels-of-asbestos-by-john-henshaw/

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