Following four years of efforts to make post-traumatic stress disorder compensable on presumption for first responders, Missouri lawmakers are set to consider another bill that would classify the condition as an occupational illness. H.B. 164, filed Thursday, would add PTSD for first responders to the list of accepted occupational illnesses under state workers compensation law. …
Missouri lawmakers again introduce PTSD legislation Read More »
A bill pre-filed with the Texas legislature would give insurers 60 days to contest or deny a workers compensation claim for certain public safety employees or forfeit their right to litigate the claim. H.B. 790 would apply to claims for “benefits, compensation, or assistance by certain public safety employees and survivors of certain public safety …
Texas bill would give insurers 60 days to deny public safety comp claims Read More »
Proposing $363,890 in new penalties for a Middlefield, Ohio, contractor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has placed C.R.H. Roofing LLC into its Severe Violator Enforcement Program after more than three years of failed inspections and unpaid fines, the agency announced Wednesday. Twice in six days in June 2022, federal safety inspectors observed workers exposed to …
Contractor facing more than $414,000 in fines over fall protection violations Read More »
A Texas appellate court on Wednesday ruled that a packaging material manufacturer was entitled to summary judgment on the negligence and gross negligence claims filed by the representative of a temporary worker who had been severely injured on the manufacturer’s premises. In December 2015, Rigoverto Balderas entered into a client services agreement with Port City …
Manufacturer gets summary judgment dismissing tort claims Read More »
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries on Wednesday announced a 4.8% increase in the average workers compensation premium rate for 2023. The rate increase, prompted by wage inflation and rising medical costs, means employers and workers will jointly pay an additional $61 a year, on average, for each full-time employee, the department said. …
Washington announces 4.8% increase in comp premiums Read More »
Opioid prescribing in workers compensation nosedived to an all-time low last year, a new report finds, but experts say there are concerns with other drugs being used for pain management. AmTrust Financial Services Inc. reported in October that only 15.2% of its workers compensation claims for 2021 involved an opioid prescription, down from 60% in …
Sharp drop in opioid prescriptions raises questions over other drugs Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November released revised guidelines for opioid prescribing with new recommendations for providers that emphasize greater communication with patients and state that opioids should not be on the front line for managing pain. The last time the CDC released opioid guidelines was in 2016, which triggered what …
LAS VEGAS — While claim frequency in workers compensation has been flat for a decade, claim severity is increasing, and no industry is seeing it more than construction, according to a panel of experts. “This is driven by medical advances,” said Mark Walls, vice president, communications & strategic analysis, for Safety National Casualty Corp. “They’re …
LAS VEGAS — Ergonomics generally hasn’t received the attention it needs in the construction industry, but that may be changing. That’s according to presenters at the International Risk Management Institute Inc. Construction Risk Conference, who said the rising costs of musculoskeletal and soft-tissue injuries, particularly in an industry in which materials are heavy and the …
Technology helps employers sharpen focus on ergonomics Read More »
Finding effective, safe therapies to treat pain and help injured workers return to work remains a major concern for the workers compensation sector. While advances are being made, there are still limited alternatives to opioids, which were prescribed widely starting in the 1990s, but over the past 10 years were used far less frequently as …