Making a Fatal Circus Out of Safety

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 incentive to maintain a safe workplace unfortunately only can be induced by economics.

Two things need to happen so that workplaces become safer. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) need to be strengthened, and the workers' compensation system needs to remove the exclusivity bar that prevents liability claims against employers.

Workers' compensation has been in place since 1911 and limits recovery for an employee injured at work and shields employers from liability claims by injured workers. The system provides for a limitation of recovery and economic caps that shield employers from threatening damage claims. Without an economic incentive employers just won't do what's necessary to prevent accidents and injuries to employere.

Legislation, Protecting America's Workers Act H.R. 2067 S.1580 and Protecting Workers From Imminent Dangers Act of 2009 H.R.2199 ,  is presently under consideration to put teeth back into OSHA. Those pending changes, sadly will not help Dawn, they would be a good first step in preventing injuries and deaths like what occurred at SeaWorld in Florida.

Click here to red more about OSHA and workplace accidents and illnesses.

Novel Approach-Eliminate the Need to Go To Court

Scotland is working on a way to speed up compensation benefits in wrongful death compensation cases. Bill Butler, Minister from Glasgow has proposed that in admitted cases the parties should not have to appear in court.Joe O'Neill, of the Clydebank Asbestos Group, said: "This is welcome news for the people we represent.

"Too often protracted legal proceedings place undue strain on families and I would urge all MSPs to get behind these proposals and ensure that justice can be accessed as quickly as possible."

Speeding up the process is something that Nebraska does already also through the elimination of court appearances. Nebraska allows resolution of lump sum dispositions by merely filing a release.

To read more about fatal cases and the quest for benefits click here.

Trauma of Job Loss Often Includes Health Problems

Occupational heart attacks are notorious issues in workers' compensation claims. The New York Times reviews the phenomenon cardiovascular episodes attributed to work related stress due to plant closings.

A "....paper, published last year by Kate W. Strully, a sociology professor at the State University of New York at Albany, found that a person who lost a job had an 83 percent greater chance of developing a stress-related health problem, like diabetes, arthritis or psychiatric issues."

The Occupational Disease Pilot Program & Healthcare

Health Care reform continues to be at the forefront of the Obama administration’s agenda.   Legal Talk Network Host and Attorney Alan S. Pierce welcomes Jon L. Gelman to discuss health care and workers’ compensation and the Occupational Disease Pilot Program: a close look at the delivery of  medical benefits when it comes to occupational disease and how workers' compensation may or may not fit into the big picture of universal health care or health care reform.


Click here to listen to the interview (duration 27:58): http://tinyurl.com/ycxee3y
MP3 Link: http://tinyurl.com/ybanu3v (20.6MB)


To read more about the Libby MT Pilot Project click here.

To read more about workers’ compensation and universal health care solutions click here. 

Taking Aim At Carcinogenic Cosmetics

The fragrance and cosmetic industry is now the target of potential regulation as the State of Colorado is considering legislation to ban cosmetics that contain cancer producing substances. Legislation has been introduced by Senator Betty Boyd and Representative Dianne Primavera to ban the products.The proposed legislation is entitled "Colorado Safe Personal Care Products Act." [HB 1248]


Recently the NJ Courts upheld a workers' compensation claim of a worker who suffered a medical condition as a result of merely sustaining a bystander exposure to perfume. 


The cosmetic and fragrance industry is largely self-regulated. The proposed Colorado legislation comes as a new national effort is being made to create a safer environment in the workplace.


The read more about occupational exposures and workers' compensation click here.

Asbestos Deaths Predicted to Continue for Decades

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a draft Intelligence Report concerning asbestos and mesothelioma in an effort to create a "road-map for research."

"Asbestos has been a highly visible issue in public health for over three decades. During the mid- to late-20th century, many advances were made in the scientific understanding of worker health effects from exposure to asbestos fibers and other elongate mineral particles (EMPs). It is now well documented that fibers of asbestos minerals, when inhaled, can cause serious diseases in exposed workers. However, many questions and areas of confusion and scientific uncertainty remain. For instance, due to the mineralogical complexity of the asbestos minerals, the scientific literature contains various inconsistencies in the definition and application of the term asbestos for health protection guidance and regulatory purposes."

"The purpose of the Roadmap is to outline a research agenda that will guide the development of specific research programs and projects that will provide a broader and clearer understanding of the important determinants of toxicity for asbestos and other EMPs. NIOSH recognizes that results from such research may impact environmental as well as occupational health policies and practices. Many of the issues that are important in the workplace are also important to communities and to the general population.Therefore, NIOSH envisions that the planning and conduct of the research will be a collaborative effort involving active participation of multiple federal agencies, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as labor, industry, academia, health and safety practitioners, and other interested parties, including international groups. This collaboration will help to focus the scope of the research, to fund and conduct research, and to develop and disseminate informational materials describing research results and their implications for establishing new occupational and public health policies."

Asbestos Deaths Predicted to Continue for Decades

"NIOSH has annually tracked U.S. asbestosis deaths since 1968 and malignant  mesothelioma deaths since 1999 using death certificate data in the National Occupational  Respiratory Mortality System (NORMS). NORMS data, representing all deaths among  U.S. residents, show that asbestosis deaths increased almost 20-fold from the late 1960s  to the late 1990s (Figure 6) [NIOSH 2007b]. Asbestosis mortality trends are expected to substantially trail trends in asbestos exposures (see Section 2.4.2) for two primary  reasons: (1) the latency period between asbestos exposure and asbestosis onset is 2 typically long, commonly one or two decades or more; and (2) asbestosis is a chronic disease, so affected individuals can live for many years with the disease before succumbing. In fact, asbestosis deaths have apparently plateaued (at nearly 1,500 per year) since 2000 (Figure 3) [NIOSH 2007b]. Ultimately, it is anticipated that the annual  number of asbestosis deaths in the United States will decrease substantially as a result of  documented reductions in exposure. However, asbestos usage has not been completely  eliminated, and asbestos-containing materials remain in place in structural materials and  machinery, so the potential for exposure remains. Thus, asbestosis deaths in the United  States are anticipated to continue to occur for several decades."

Mesothelioma Strongly Linked to Occupational Exposures

"Malignant mesothelioma, an aggressive disease that is nearly always fatal, is known to be  caused by exposure to asbestos and some other mineral fibers [IOM 2006]. The occurrence of mesothelioma has been strongly linked with occupational exposures to asbestos [Bang et al. 2006]. There had been no discrete International Classification of Disease (ICD) code for mesothelioma until its most recent 10th revision. Thus, only seven years of NORMS data are available with a specific ICD code for mesothelioma (Figure 4); during this period, there was a 9% increase in annual mesothelioma deaths, from 2,484 in 1999 to 2,704 in 2005 [NIOSH 2007b]. A later peak for mesothelioma deaths than for asbestosis deaths would be entirely expected, given the longer latency for mesothelioma [Järvholm et al. 1999]. One analysis of malignant mesothelioma incidence based on the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program data found that an earlier steep increase in incidence had moderated and 1 that mesothelioma incidence may have actually peaked sometime in the 1990s in SEER-2 covered areas [Weill et al. 2004]. In contrast to NORMS data, which represents a census 3 of all deaths in the entire United States, the analyzed SEER data were from areas in 4 which a total of only about 15% of the U.S. population resides."

NIOSH  has invited Public Comment Until April 16, 2010 5:00pm EDT

Click here to read more about asbestos and workers compensation.

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Defense Expert Found Contradictory in Psych Claim

The NJ Appellate Division affirmed the trial decision of Judge Kovalcik who ruled that the testimony of the defense expert was "contradictory and inconsistent and cannot credit his conclusion that Petitioner no longer suffers from post traumatic stress disorder."

The injured worker was struck from behind by two co-workers who had threatened to kill him.

Sormaz v. Alpha Moving & Storage, Inc. .. JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-3482-08T33482-08T3  Decided 2.18.2010

Click here to read more about psychiatric claims and workers' compensation.