Tag: Workers Comp

NEW ORLEANS — Technology has emerged as a new strategy to help workplaces prevent acts of violence against workers, an issue that has virtually every industry increasingly concerned and regulators bracing for change, according to a National Safety Council researcher.

Kenna Carlsen, a research associate who spoke Monday at the National Safety Council’s Safety Congress & Expo, presented survey results that showed a steady rise in those who think they are unsafe: in 2020, 22% of 1,500 employees felt that they were likely to be exposed to workplace violence and in 2023 that number rose to 35%. For 1,500 employers surveyed, the likelihood of violence rose similarly from 25% in 2020 to 33% in 2023.

California’s governor on Sept. 20 signed S.B. 533, requiring, among a list of new regulations, that all workplaces by July 1, 2024, create and maintain violence prevention plans. Ms. Carlsen said other states may do the same, causing workplaces everywhere to do more to protect workers from harm.

While the best practices include maintaining a healthy workplace where workers can have their mental needs addressed, providing opportunities to report threats, and assessing and reducing risk factors in the work environment, Ms. Carlsen said employers are often limited in what they can do to prevent intentional acts of violence.

For example, some employers have operations in unsafe areas, and some require tasks that are inherently dangerous for workers. Lone workers or those working in clients’ homes, as examples, more often face acts of violence, she said. 

Such technologies as artificial intelligence to monitor camera footage, panic or duress buttons, lone worker monitoring systems that include wearables, case management systems and predictive modeling are emerging as ways to help employers prevent and better respond to threats, according to Ms. Carlsen, adding that each has pros and cons — and that technology will not be able to replace other measures.

“There’s no replacing having a strong (violence prevention) policy,” she said. “There’s no replacing having well-communicated reporting procedure. You need to engage with your employees, providing workplace training, especially in recognizing (threats) and de-escalation.”

 

 

NEW ORLEANS — Principles of studying works of fine art can be applied to hazard identification practices in industries, helping to bridge the dangerous gap between what most people look at and what is processed by the brain, according to an expert weighing on the practice of “visual literacy” as applied to the safety profession. 

The Center of Visual Experience, a Toledo, Ohio-based industrial safety organization otherwise known as COVE, hired a statistician to examine thousands of workplace safety incidents and found that 24% of the lapses were due in part to visual acuity, according to Pete Batrowny, an independent environmental health and safety consultant on the organization’s advisory board who presented Monday at the National Safety Council’s Safety Congress & Expo.

“We don’t see as well as we think we do,” he said, adding that such factors as biases, timing, and overfamiliarity with a space can fool the brain into not processing what is there — a common factor in workplace safety issues where even an attuned safety professional can say, “I walk by there every day” and still miss a hazard.

The practice of processing images is one that can improve safety hazard identification, similar to what someone studying fine art would do, he said. First look — observe to see what is there — describe, then analyze and interpret. Safety professionals can improve their processes by slowing down, he said.

Providing attendees with a photograph of an industrial space, he asked them to identify the hazards — there were more than a dozen. One common problem is that inspections are too narrow; once a hazard is identified, the others may be unintentionally ignored or “not seen,” he said.

“The best thing you can do is slow down,” he said. “You have to slow down and use your slow brain… so we can actually make better sense at what we are looking at.”

 

 

 

The New Jersey State Fraternal Order of Police is speaking out against a lawsuit filed by Jersey City against the state over a policy permitting off-duty legal cannabis consumption for police officers.

The FOP on Thursday issued a statement calling the lawsuit a “waste of taxpayer dollars,” noting that the state Attorney General’s Office has already issued a directive allowing police to use marijuana off-the-clock as long as they are not impaired at work.

The state also prohibits random testing of police officers for off-duty cannabis use.

Jersey City officials filed suit on Oct. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey challenging an aspect of New Jersey’s adult use marijuana law permitting police officers to use the drug outside of work.

The plaintiffs contend that the federal law barring firearms possession for those who use marijuana impacts law enforcement since police officers must possess guns as part of their job duties. 

 

A Pennsylvania appellate court Thursday upheld an arbitration award for a sheriff’s deputy who said her employer violated a collective bargaining agreement when it took away leave time because she attended medical appointments for a work injury during work hours.  

The Commonwealth Court affirmed the arbitration award for Lehigh County Sheriff’s Deputy Emily Cordes, who suffered a torn ligament in August 2018 while serving a warrant.

After a brief leave, Ms. Cordes continued medical treatment by attending outpatient rehabilitation, with some appointments occurring during her scheduled work shifts.

Her employer, Lehigh County, told Ms. Cordes she would have to attend her appointments during nonwork hours, but the deputy continued to attend appointments during work shifts, prompting the county to take away some of her accrued leave time.

Ms. Cordes filed a grievance, and an arbitrator found for the Lehigh County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association on her behalf, determining that the county violated the collective bargaining agreement.

The county asked a trial court to vacate the arbitration award, but a judge upheld the decision.

 

A schoolteacher injured during his lunch break is entitled to workers compensation benefits because he was still responsible for students during that time, an Arkansas appellate court ruled Wednesday.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by the state Workers’ Compensation Commission that Bron Bell suffered a compensable injury on Sept. 27, 2018, when he fell while exiting the school cafeteria.

His employer, the Mineral Springs-Saratoga School District, had denied the claim, contending Mr. Bell was not performing employment duties at the time of the accident.

An administrative law judge agreed with the district and found the injury noncompensable, but the Workers’ Compensation Commission reversed the ruling, stating Mr. Bell was on the job site at the time of the accident and would have been required to leave his lunch break and to return to work if he was needed to assist with a student incident.

Reinsurance buyers will see continued firm pricing at upcoming renewals, while primary insurance rate hikes persist, top executives at Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. said Thursday as the brokerage reported its net income jumped 34% in the third quarter.

Elevated catastrophe losses will drive continued underwriting discipline in property catastrophe reinsurance, but the market is expected to be more stable at Jan. 1 renewals, with adequate capacity and increased reinsurer appetite, they said on an earnings conference call.

In casualty reinsurance the market is more cautious as reinsurers assess prior-year loss development and inflation, but capacity is expected to remain stable, the executives said.

“The cost of risk is rising,” said John Doyle, Marsh McLennan president and CEO, on the call with analysts.  

Primary insurance rate increases continued in the third quarter, with the Marsh Global Insurance Market Index up 3% overall, in line with the second quarter, Mr. Doyle said.

Marsh McLennan reported third-quarter revenue of $5.38 billion, up 13% overall and 10% on an underlying basis over the same period in 2022. Net income jumped 34% to $730 million.

Marsh LLC, its main brokerage arm, reported $2.70 billion in revenue, up 9% overall and 8% on an underlying basis.

Marsh’s business in the U.S. and Canada logged $1.56 billion in revenue, up 8% overall and 6% on an underlying basis. Its Europe, Middle East and Africa business reported $692 million in revenue, a 13% increase overall and up 9% on an underlying basis.

Asia-Pacific revenue was $311 million, up 9% overall and 10% on an underlying basis, while Latin America revenue totaled $134 million, up 14% on both an overall and underlying basis.

Growth was strong across the board in North America and internationally, though there was some moderating growth in financial, construction and cyber lines, reflecting pricing pressures, said Martin South, president and CEO of Marsh.

Reinsurance brokerage arm Guy Carpenter & Co. LLC reported $359 million in third-quarter revenue, a 9% increase overall and up 8% on an underlying basis.

Mr. Doyle said there are concerns both in the insurance and reinsurance markets about rising loss costs.

Property catastrophe reinsurance buyers can expect pricing to remain firm and vary by region, said Dean Klisura, president and CEO of Guy Carpenter.

“It won’t be what we saw last year in the U.S. and in Europe, but we do think that firmness will be there,” he said.

“We do expect additional capacity and an increased appetite from reinsurers to write more business, particularly at higher attaching property/cat layers,” he said.

In meetings this fall, reinsurers expressed concerns with prior-year loss development in U.S. casualty in certain lines driven by economic and social inflation, he said.

“We do expect some downward pressure from reinsurers on ceding commissions for our clients with quota share contracts in certain casualty lines,” but capacity is expected to remain adequate, Mr. Klisura said.

Property insurance rates increased 7% in the quarter compared with 10% in the second quarter and casualty pricing was up in the low-single-digits range, Mr. Doyle said. Cyber insurance pricing decreased modestly after several years of increases, he said.

Workers compensation rates increased slightly, while financial and professional liability insurance rates were down mid-single digits.

“We’re in the 24th consecutive quarter of rate increases,” based on Marsh’s index, Mr. South said. “I don’t think we’re at an inflection point when it comes to pricing,” he said.

 

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday that it cited Decatur, Illinois-based Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. after three workers were seriously injured in an explosion at a grain processing facility.

The workers suffered burns and other injuries in the April 21 explosion at the Decatur plant. 

OSHA inspectors found an explosion suppression system at the plant was in a state of disrepair and wasn’t functioning properly. The agency said ADM hadn’t inspected or tested the system since 2016.

The company was cited for two willful, one serious and one other-than-serious violations. OSHA proposed $324,796 in penalties.

OSHA had cited the company in April 2019 after an explosion at a separate Decatur facility. That case ended with a settlement in which the company agreed to conduct preventive maintenance on safety control equipment.

The company has 15 business days to contest the latest citation and proposed penalties.  

 

A recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling offers some clarification for workers compensation insurers looking to subrogate in cases where claimants recover damages through third-party litigation, but experts say the decision creates confusion as to which costs may be subject to subrogation. 

The court, in its Oct. 3 decision in Thomas v. Logue, ruled that costs borne by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation stemming from a physician review of an injured worker’s claim were improperly subject to a subrogation lien because the administrative fees were not related to specific medical treatment for the injured worker.

The worker, Lamar Thomas, was injured in a vehicle accident and later sued the at-fault motorist. He received comp benefits but subsequently sought to expand his claim to include an aggravation of preexisting conditions.

The bureau hired a doctor to review Mr. Thomas’ medical records, and the doctor determined the additional conditions were degenerative and unrelated to the injury.

The bureau attempted through subrogation proceedings to recover the fees it paid to the doctor who conducted the medical review, which the state’s highest court rejected.

A spokeswoman for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation declined to address the matter because the state Supreme Court has remanded the case to the Court of Claims and the bureau is “unable to comment on pending litigation,” she said.

Woodmere, Ohio-based attorney David Steiger, of Karp Steiger LPA, who represented Mr. Thomas, said the additional costs that were incurred to fight the claim “made no sense” in the light of subrogation and that seeking to recover costs related to state-initiated physician reviews has long been the practice in Ohio, where the state provides workers comp insurance for all employers. 

“I’ve been dealing with this issue for a number of years, and it just doesn’t seem right,” he said of the ruling that sets a precedent for future subrogation proceedings.

The doctor retained by the comp bureau wasn’t Mr. Thomas’ treating physician but was retained by the bureau to provide a medical opinion, Mr. Steiger said. In order for the bureau to recoup a cost, that cost would have to be one that is paid to or on behalf of the claimant, which was not the case, he said.

Mr. Steiger said the bureau should reimburse past claimants who lost money in similar cases.

Comp subrogation attorney Gary Wickert, president of Austin, Texas-based Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer S.C. said the Ohio ruling — which caught national attention — leaves open the possibility for some confusion.

When adjusting a comp claim, there are various associated costs that don’t directly benefit the injured worker. These include case management costs, auditing fees, independent medical exam fees, functional evaluation charges, nurse case management fees and third-party vendor fees, so questions remain over what costs may be subject to subrogation in third-party recovery, Mr. Wickert said.

Typically, costs related to medical benefits and lost wages are subject to subrogation when claimants recover through third-party litigation, but the Ohio ruling calls into question what other costs might be subrogated by a comp insurer, Mr. Wickert said.

Subrogation, which prevents double recovery for injured workers and also helps keep down insurance premiums for employers, is a nuanced area of comp law, Mr. Wickert said, adding it stands to reason that confusion would remain over what costs could be subrogated.

While the Thomas ruling appears to set clearer standards for comp subrogation in Ohio, it is unlikely to have an impact elsewhere where insurers have attached similar fees to subrogation claims.

“That is one of the difficulties with subrogation and making general statements,” said Steve Bennett, Washington-based vice president of workers’ compensation programs and counsel for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. “I would have to emphasize cases are extremely fact-specific and very state-specific.”

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Monday announced it cited a New York water and sewer line contractor after two employees died at a trench construction site at John F. Kennedy International Airport.  

OSHA said it cited Bronx-based Triumph Construction Corp. for four serious violations and proposed $59,153 in penalties following the two workplace fatalities in April.

The workers were attempting to remove soil from below a concrete slab within a trench when the slab broke apart and fatally crushed both employees, according to OSHA.

The company failed to support the concrete slab, never instructed employees on safe slab removal methods, and failed to construct the excavation’s protective system based on OSHA-approved workplace safety design standards, the agency said.

The company has 15 business days to contest the citation and proposed penalties.