Tag: Workers Comp

Workers compensation medical payments per claim in numerous states decreased through 2020 and 2021, while indemnity benefits grew during that same time, reflecting economic changes during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to comp industry research released Tuesday.

A package of studies released Tuesday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute compared medical payments, indemnity benefits and benefit delivery expenses in 17 states and how they changed during the early days of the pandemic.

“Growth in wages was a key driver of the trend in indemnity benefits per claim,” Ramona Tanabe, WCRI executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

Ms. Tanabe said workers’ average weekly wages grew faster in service-providing industries during the early part of the pandemic and that a shift took place in the share of claims from lower-wage to middle-wage categories.

The states highlighted in the package of studies were Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The studies’ authors noted that temporary disability duration also factored in the underlying indemnity trend, with most states highlighted in the research experiencing decreasing or stable temporary disability durations in 2021 after reported increases in the prior year.

The researchers said the reports, part of the 23rd edition of the CompScope Benchmarks, are designed to help policymakers track the effectiveness of policy changes and identify trends in states’ workers comp systems, and give insight into the overall effect COVID-19 has had on comp.

 

 

Less than two years after two maintenance workers suffered fatal burns while working on a steam line at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Connecticut, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has again issued notices to the VA for similar violations.

OSHA said Monday that it identified one willful violation and two repeat violations at the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Prescott, Arizona, and it issued three serious notices for exposing workers to burns and other injuries by allowing them to work on steam lines without implementing proper safety protocols.

The latest notices followed the November 2020 deaths of two maintenance workers who suffered steam burns at the VA health care facility in West Haven, Connecticut.

In the Arizona case, OSHA said inspectors found that the facility lacked energy-isolating procedures designed to prevent the release of hazardous energy when steam lines are being serviced.

Workers followed an “ad-hoc process” that did not meet federal workplace safety standards and the facility failed to train workers on proper safety procedures, according to OSHA.

Federal agencies must comply with the same safety standards as private sector employers covered under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

A private business cited for similar violations could face penalties of more than $315,000, OSHA said.

Federal agencies such as the VA are given notices of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions and are required to demonstrate that they remedied the hazards, but they are not assessed financial penalties.

Jobs with the highest rates of opioid overdose fatalities generally have high occupational injury rates and low access to paid sick leave, according to a research paper on the economic impacts of opioids released Monday by the Brookings Institution.

Industries with the highest rates of overdose fatalities in the workplace have elevated occupational injury rates for fractures and musculoskeletal disorders, both of which are “significant risk factors” for long-term opioid use, researchers wrote.

Brookings researchers identified several studies that linked occupational injuries and the risk of opioid dependence: a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2019 of workers compensation claims from 2013-2015 in Tennessee found that one-third of injured workers had received an opioid prescription within six months of their occupational injury; and a national study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2022 examined construction workers, finding that individuals with occupational injuries were nearly four times more likely to use prescription opioids than those without injuries. Another study, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in 2012, examined opioid-related deaths in 2008 and 2009 and found that 57% of all those who died had experienced at least one prior occupational injury.

The lack of sick pay was another element related to work that raises the risk for overdose. Brookings researchers found that workers without access to sick leave often take opioids “in order to manage pain and continue working, making them more vulnerable” to long-term use and overdose. 

 

A bill that would enable state regulators in Washington to better address musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace is one step away from becoming law.

Washington lawmakers on Friday sent Senate Bill 5217 to the desk of Gov. Jay Inslee, although it was not immediately clear whether the governor would sign or veto the measure.

The bill would repeal a current law that prevents the Department of Labor and Industries from adopting rules meant to better protect workers from musculoskeletal injuries and disorders.

The measure, introduced in January, passed the Senate and the House, but by narrow margins.

Legislators who support the measure say that the absence of the Department of Labor and Industries’ ability to regulate workplace practices designed to prevent musculoskeletal injuries on the job has contributed to “excess and avoidable” workers compensation claims and costs for all employers throughout the state.

The bill states that musculoskeletal injuries and disorders account for at least one-third of all comp claims in Washington and remain a top cause of long-term disability in the state.

Many of the state’s critical industries are affected by musculoskeletal injuries and disorders, including industries that continue to experience significant staffing shortages.

The bill states that repealing the current prohibition on the Department of Labor and Industries would allow regulators to work on targeted safety efforts designed to better prevent these types of workplace injuries. 

 

 

Alabama lawmakers are considering a bill that would make mental illness an occupational disease for first responders.

H.B. 323, introduced Thursday and sent to committee, would amend current workers compensation law that states a mental illness, including post-traumatic stress disorder, is not considered an occupational disease unless accompanies by a physical injury.  

This bill would require that certain benefits be provided to first responders who suffer from work-related PTSD, including reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket treatment expenses and paid time off for treatment.

This bill would authorize a fund to disburse the benefits and would exempt paid benefits from state income tax.

 

Federal workplace safety inspectors examining how a 36-year-old worker was electrocuted in a Maplesville, Alabama, paper mill in September 2022 found his employer willfully violated safety standards by not stopping a machine while the man was replacing a conveyor belt.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Friday it cited South Coast Paper LLC for failure to de-energize machinery during maintenance, which led to the man’s death when he grabbed an energized metal rail connected to the conveyor system.

The agency also issued South Coast Paper a repeat violation citation for allowing workers to perform maintenance on machines without first being trained to make sure they possessed the knowledge and skills for safely applying, using and removing hazardous energy controls.

In addition, the agency cited South Coast Paper for lack of machine guarding and not providing clear access in front of a 480-volt breaker panel or training employees on electrical safe work practices.

OSHA cited the company in June 2022 for not de-energizing machinery at its Burlington, New Jersey, facility.

 

 

In 2021, 20.9% of adults in the U.S. experienced chronic pain and 6.9% experienced high-impact chronic pain that results in “substantial restriction to daily activities,” according to a report issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC described chronic pain as a debilitating condition that affects daily work and life activities for many adults in the United States and has been linked with depression, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, higher suicide risk, and substance use and misuse. For its study, the CDC sent surveys to 29,482 adults, with 50.9% responding.

The CDC said the findings highlighted “important disparities in the prevalence of chronic pain among certain population groups.” Consistent with previous studies, the prevalence of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain were higher among older adults, females, adults currently unemployed but who worked previously, veterans, adults living in poverty, those residing in nonmetropolitan areas, and those with public health insurance. The report also found a higher prevalence among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults, adults identifying as bisexual, and adults who were divorced or separated.

 

 

California’s labor commissioner announced Thursday that four employees of a Los Angeles McDonald’s franchise who were fired in retaliation for expressing concerns about workplace safety hazards during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic have been reinstated to their jobs.

Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said the business will also have to pay the workers $113,241 in combined lost wages, interest and retaliation penalties.

The workers filed retaliation complaints with the labor commissioner’s office in September 2020 after they were fired for raising concerns over being asked to reuse facemasks and gloves and for not being notified about positive COVID-19 cases among co-workers.

The McDonald’s franchise was cited in February 2021, and the citations were subsequently upheld by a hearing officer this February.

As part of the decision, McDonald’s will have to remove negative references from the workers’ personnel files, and the restaurant will have to publicly post information about the citations and violations. 

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced updates to the prescribing information for opioid pain medicines, including new warnings on how long-term use can lead to more pain.

The FDA says data shows that patients on the drug are at risk for opioid-induced hyperalgesia, which is when an opioid is prescribed and taken for pain relief causes an increase in pain or sensitivity to pain, or allodynia, and that studies warrant updates to warning labels.

Although hyperalgesia can occur at any opioid dosage, the FDA says it may occur more often with higher doses and longer-term use and that the condition “can be difficult to recognize and may result in increased opioid dosages that could worsen symptoms and increase the risk of respiratory depression.”

The FDA also plans to update labels to state that the risk of overdose increases as the dose increases; that immediate-release opioids should not be used for an extended period unless the pain remains severe enough to require them and alternative treatments continue to be inadequate; and that many acute pain conditions treated in the outpatient setting require no more than a few days of an opioid pain medicine. This may include pain related to surgery or musculoskeletal injuries, the FDA said.

The administration is also updating the approved use for extended release/long-acting opioid pain medicines to recommend they be reserved for severe and persistent pain that requires an extended treatment period.