WA DLI Begins Employer First Contact Call Pilot

As part of the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC) implementation L&I received approval from the Legislature to hire additional account managers to increase capacity for first calls to employers and to provide loss control support. The Employer Services Early Contact Team was formed in October 2016. This team is currently staffed with 4 account managers with the plan to hire 4 additional account managers in February 2017. 

The Early Contact Team began the Employer First Contact Call Pilot on Tuesday, December 27th. As a pilot, they started by calling on a small number of potential time-loss claims and plan to gradually expand over time. 

The Early Contact Team will ask the following questions of the employer: 

  • What was the workers’ last day worked? 
  • Has the worker returned to work? Or, is there a planned returned to work date? 
  • Is light duty available? 
  • Will the worker be kept on salary? 
  • Are the wages and health care benefits the worker listed on the ROA correct? 

The Early Contact Team will educate employers on: 

  • The claim free discount, if the employer has one. 
  • Long-term impacts of time-loss on the firm’s experience factor. 
  • The benefits of light duty jobs and options to obtain cost reimbursements through the Washington Stay at Work Program. 
  • Early return-to-work assistance to develop light duty jobs consistent with the worker’s restrictions. 
  • Risk management services or a safety and health consultation for accident prevention. 

The Early Contact Team will make referrals if indicated for: 

  • Washington Stay at Work Program 
  • Early Return to Work (ERTW) Services 
  • Risk Management Services 
  • Safety and Health Consultation Services 
  • Ergonomic Evaluations 

This means the Early Contact Team will be the first to contact employers, rather than the claim manager, in some instances. As a future phase of implementing the JLARC recommendations, we will improve the speed of claim manager first contacts on claims at risk of long-term disability and equip them with the tools to help partner with employers to reduce this risk. 

 

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Why Immigration Policy Changes Will Probably Impact Workers Compensation

Today’s post comes from guest author Jon Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.

In theory, the changes to immigration policy proposed by President Trump shouldn’t impact workers compensation in Nebraska. Workers compensation laws are state laws and Nebraska, like most states, awards workers compensation benefits regardless of immigration status.

But theory is one things and reality is another.

Mike Elk of Payday Report recently ran an article detailing that workplace deaths among Latinos were the highest in 2015 than they had been since 2007. This spike was attributed in part to aggressive immigration enforcement by the Obama administration which immigrant advocates believed made workers afraid to speak out about working conditions over fear of deportation.

During the Obama administration tougher immigration policies were at least coupled with tougher and even innovative workplace safety enforcement by OSHA. In the Trump era, workplace safety enforcement is expected to be curtailed and new OSHA rules are poised to be rolled back.

Immigration and workers compensation is often thought of in the context of Mexicans and central Americans working in industries like meatpacking and construction. This is a misconception, the meatpacking industry in Nebraska and elsewhere employs an uncounted but significant number of Somali workers. Somalis are one of seven nationalities banned from entering the United States under President Trump’s order. Ironically Somalis were recruited heavily into meatpacking work after raids during the Bush administration lead to the deportation of Latino meatpacking workers. Somalis had refugee status so there were few questions about their immigration status or eligibility to work legally. Under the new executive order, their immigration status is less secure and they may be less likely to speak out about working conditions.

A smaller but growing number of Cubans are coming to Nebraska for meatpacking work as well. Like Somalis, Cubans are deemed to be refugees so their ability to work lawfully is not a question for employers. However in the waning days of Obama administration, President Obama ended automatic refugee status for Cubans in an effort to normalize relationship with the Castro regime. There was little public outcry over this order like there was for the so-called Muslim Ban. However because of an executive order, Cuban nationals working in Nebraska may be less inclined to speak out about working conditions or claim workers compensation benefits due to newfound uncertainty over their immigration status.

Chemical Exposure in Chicken Plants

Today’s post comes from guest author Jon Rehm, from Rehm, Bennett & Moore.

Several members of Congress have written to Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell regarding the danger of the chemical PAA, which is used to sanitize chickens in poultry plants.

According to The Pump Handle blog written by occupational health expert Celeste Monforton, the increase in the use of PAA is linked to the Department of Agriculture’s “modernized inspection” system. Though meatpacking is well known for the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries, chemical exposure is a less well-known, but similarly serious hazard, to meatpacking workers, which has been recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The hazards of chemical exposure are not limited to meat-processing workers. Chemical exposure fatalities are too common in rural America. Recently, a worker on an industrial cleaning crew in Beatrice, Nebraska, was killed from inhaling industrial cleaning chemicals. In October, a resident of northeast Nebraska was killed after inhaling chemicals from a leak in anhydrous ammonia pipeline. That same month, 125 residents of Atchison, Kansas, sought treatment for inhalation of chlorine gas from an explosion at a distiller.

While chemical exposure can often result in sudden death, ongoing exposure to chemicals can also create injuries that may not be apparent for years after the exposure. Unfortunately, Nebraska limits the ability of workers to recover for such injuries.

The letter about the hazards of PAA was written to outgoing cabinet members. The new Trump administration is expected to have a less-aggressive approach toward regulating the workplace. Hopefully the new administration will take the threat posed by hazardous chemicals in the workplace seriously.

Chicago Metal Container Manufacturer Faces Penalties After 3rd Worker Suffers Amputation Injury

Today’s post was shared by WC CompNewsNetwork and comes from www.workerscompensation.com

Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – For the third time since the summer of 2015, a worker with a metal container manufacturer has suffered an amputation injury. In each incident, federal safety investigators found that, if the employer had complied with workplace safety standards, the injuries were preventable.

On Dec. 27, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued B-Way Corp. one repeated and one serious safety violation, carrying proposed penalties of $81,062, following its investigation of the most recent injury. On Sept. 10, 2016, a machine amputated a 52-year-old temporary worker’s right middle finger tip when it came in contact with the machine’s operating parts – as he cleared a jam.

Agency investigators determined the employer installed the machine’s safety guards improperly. They also found the company did not instruct workers properly in procedures to prevent machine movement during service and maintenance, a process known as lockout/tag out.

"Each year, manufacturing workers suffer hundreds of preventable injuries because employers fail to install safety guards properly and train workers in machine safety procedures," said Kathy Webb, OSHA’s area director in Calumet City. "BWay Corp. needs to review its machines’ operations corporate-wide immediately to ensure they have adequate and properly installed safety guards. They must also be sure that workers are using lockout/tag out procedures to…

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Port of Seattle, Boeing and Alaska Airlines Release Aviation Biofuel Infrastructure Findings

The Port of Seattle, Boeing and Alaska Airlines today released a first-of-its-kind study that identifies the best infrastructure options for delivering aviation biofuel to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. In pursuit of its goal to power every flight at Sea-Tac with sustainable aviation biofuel, Sea-Tac is among the first airports in North America to work with aviation, energy and research partners to systematically evaluate all aspects to developing a commercial-scale program from scratch.

“Unlike the biofuel itself, fuel blending and delivery infrastructure cannot grow on trees,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner John Creighton. “We needed this comprehensive analysis to confirm that we can offer commercial airlines feasible and sustainable delivery options while reducing our environmental footprint and being a good neighbor to surrounding communities.”

Sustainable aviation biofuel reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 50 to 80 percent compared to fossil fuel. This is because a biofuel feedstock, or source material, absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) during its growth cycle (e.g. photosynthesis). Using biofuel also reduces sulfur emissions, soot and particulates.

The study evaluated more than 30 sites around Washington State that could potentially support the receipt, blending, storage, and delivery infrastructure required to supply Sea-Tac Airport with up to 50 million gallons per year of sustainable alternative aviation fuel (also referred to as aviation biofuel). Potential sites were evaluated both for the ability to accommodate near-term (12-18 months) supplies of five million gallons per year and long-term (2-10 years) supplies of more than 50 million gallons per year.

In pursuing an integrated aviation biofuels supply chain, sites were selected based on the capacity to accommodate delivery of unblended biofuel by pipe, rail, barge, and/or truck, and were evaluated based on land use, zoning, and environmental considerations. The most-feasible sites were determined based on the construction costs of the needed infrastructure, environmental constraints, permitting and planning, and other contingencies to help determine an overall score and final recommendation.

  • A small biofuel receiving and blending facility at the Sea-Tac Airport Fuel Farm is the most cost-effective solution in the short term;
  • The Anacortes-area refineries are the most cost-effective options for large volumes of aviation biofuel over the long term due to their access to marine, rail, truck, and the Olympic Pipeline; and
  • The Phillips 66/Olympic Pipeline Company sites in Renton also showed potential to accommodate receipt and blending facilities for moderate-to-large biofuel volumes over the long term.

“We’re using all of the Port’s expertise and partnering with Washington State’s greatest institutions to pursue this vision of making travel more sustainable,” said Port of Seattle CEO Ted Fick. “While we increase our operations, we work relentlessly to reduce emissions, lower our waste and limit our environmental impact.”

“Commercial aviation is committed to reducing the industry’s carbon footprint, and biofuels are key to achieving that goal,” said Ellie Wood, regional director of environmental strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We’re encouraged that this study shows the viability of making a biofuel blend available to every flight at Sea-Tac Airport. As part of our global strategy to develop and commercialize biofuel, we’re proud to support our hometown partners and keep the Pacific Northwest in the forefront of these innovative efforts.”

“This study represents a critical milestone toward powering our planes with a sustainable aviation biofuel made right here at home,” said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines’ senior vice president of communications and external relations. “After recently flying the first commercial flight with new biofuel made from forest residuals from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska Airlines is eager to see how biofuel flights can become a daily reality at our hometown hub at Sea-Tac.”

An aviation biofuel production plant was not considered in this feasibility study. However, once a long-term aviation biofuel source is identified, it will be an important next step to determine its relative proximity to the sites considered in the study. The closer the source of the aviation biofuel to a biofuel blending and integration facility, the lower the costs associated with the fuel.

The full study can be found at www.portseattle.org/environment.

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NYTimes: 2 Years, 31 Dead Construction Workers. New York Can Do Better.

On Dec. 23, on the Upper East Side of New York City, yet another construction worker died. His name has not yet been released, but he was the 31st to die on the job in the city in the past two years. He was working on a nonunion work site, as were 28 of the 30 others. Fabian Para, who worked nearby, explained that “he was on the third floor, and he was wearing a harness but wasn’t hooked to a cable, and when he fell, he just went down.”

Just three weeks earlier, Wilfredo Enriques fell to his death at the old Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn. Deaths 27 and 28 occurred on Nov. 22, when a steel beam fell four stories at a Queens job site, crushing George Smith and Elizandro Enriquez Ramos. Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the workers’ deaths were a “tragedy” and that “we need to know, of course, right away whether it was mechanical, or was it human error? We don’t know yet.”

Actually, we do know; it is abundantly clear: We are in the midst of a public health epidemic brought on by inadequate safety regulations and public inattention. Construction-safety lapses happen because it pays for companies to run the risk of letting them happen. When the dead are largely foreign born and, in many cases, undocumented, no one much cares.

Spending in the construction industry is at a record high. And yet many contractors can’t be bothered to pay for training programs and safety measures, even those required by law, such as installing “fall protection” systems like nets and railings. The federal agency tasked with enforcing such safety protocols, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is severely understaffed. Between 2011 and 2014, the number of building permits issued in New York City jumped by more than 18 percent, but the number of OSHA inspectors for all of New York State dropped by more than 13 percent (as of 2014, there were only 71 left in the state).

Because there are so few inspectors, only a small fraction of construction sites are ever inspected. When sites are inspected, not surprisingly, OSHA finds a high level of violations. And even when sporadic inspections lead to fines for violations, the fines are too small to deter misconduct. According to records kept by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a nonprofit group that lobbies for worker safety, of the city contractors that were inspected from 2009 to 2014, 73 percent had at least one “serious” OSHA violation, mostly of “fall protection” standards — precisely the violation responsible for the most deaths.

Predictably, the number of construction injuries and fatalities has soared. The Department of Buildings recorded a 250 percent increase in construction injuries from 2011 through 2015, with construction fatalities increasing each year as well.

Read the full story on NYTimes.com

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N.J. man’s medical marijuana should be paid by workers’ comp, judge says

Today’s post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from www.nj.com

TRENTON — A south Jersey man injured on the job at a lumber company will have his medical marijuana tab paid by his employer’s workers compensation insurance, according to a state administrative law judge ruling in what appears to be the first decision of its kind in the state.

Andrew Watson of Egg Harbor Township qualified for the state’s medicinal marijuana program in 2014 because of a hand injury he suffered while working for 84 Lumber in Pleasantville, according to the administrative law judge’s ruling.

Watson bought 2-1/4 ounces of state-sanctioned marijuana in the spring of 2014 but when his employer refused to pay, he stopped using it, according to the ruling.

The price of one ounce of cannabis ranges from $425 to $520 for an average of $489 in the Garden State, not counting the 7 percent state sales tax, according to a state Health Department analysis. At those prices, New Jersey’s medical pot is the most expensive in the nation. The law does not require insurance to cover the expense.

Why new wave of patients signing up for medical marijuana

Administrative Law Judge Ingrid L. French said based on Watson’s testimony, "the effects of the marijuana, in many ways, is not as debilitating as the effects of the Percocet. The pharmacy records show that, ultimately (Watson) was able to reduce his use of oral narcotic medication."

"As a result of his improved pain management, he has achieved a greater level of functionality," according to the judge,…

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Removing The Safety Net: A National Trend Of Benefit Reductions For Injured Workers

Today’s post comes from guest author Catherine Stanton, from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano.

Benefits for injured workers continue to be under attack throughout the country. In New York, there have been a number of changes in the last decade, all in the name of reform. These reforms were encouraging at first as they increased the weekly benefits for some higher wage-earning injured workers for the first time in decades. They also created medical treatment guidelines under the guise of allowing injured workers to obtain pre-approval on certain medical treatments and procedures. 

Unfortunately, the changes also resulted in reduction of benefits for many injured workers. Monetary benefits were capped, so injured workers deemed partially disabled could only receive a certain number of weeks of benefits regardless of their ability to return to their pre-injury jobs. The determination of the degree of disability has become a battle involving multiple, lengthy depositions of medical witnesses where the outcome is how long injured workers get wage replacement or whether they receive lifetime benefits. The criteria is not whether injured workers can return to their prior employment, but whether they are capable of performing any work at all, regardless of their past job experience or education. The battle is not limited to the amount of weeks of benefits injured workers can receive, however. The medical treatment guidelines, touted as getting injured workers prompt medical treatment, discounts the fact that if the requested treatment is not listed within the guidelines, it is denied and the burden is placed upon injured workers and their treating doctors to prove the requested treatment is necessary.

Other changes designed to cut administrative costs and court personnel include reducing the number of hearings held, thereby denying injured workers due process. There also has been a reduction in the number of presiding judges, and in many hearing locations the judges are not even at the site but are conducting hearings through video conferencing. At the end of October, the Board announced a new procedure authorizing the insurance carrier to request a hearing on whether injured workers should be weaned off of opioids that are used by many medical providers to treat chronic pain. While everyone would agree that the misuse of prescription pain medication is an epidemic in this country, many question whether the insurance industry really has the injured workers’ best interest at heart.    

As an attorney who has represented injured workers for more than 26 years, I have seen many workers successfully transition from injured worker back into the labor market. It is very encouraging to note that for many people the system has worked. They receive their treatment, which may involve physical therapy, surgery, pain management, prescription therapy, or whatever else their treating physician recommends. They are paid a portion of their prior income and after a period of convalescence, they are able to return to work. Some injured workers, however, are not so lucky. The decisions about what happens to those unable to work have been left to those who seem to care more about business and insurance industry profits. 

Just about one year ago, 14 people were killed and 22 more injured when ISIS-inspired terrorists went on a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. The nation and the world were horrified to hear about this tragedy and the story was in the news for many weeks. Now a year has gone by and many of the survivors have complained about treatment being denied and prescription medication being cut off.  While many injuries happen quietly without the headlines seen in the California attack, there are many similarities. It seems that when an initial injury occurs, there are many good protections and benefits in place. However, as time goes on and costs increase, injured workers are looked upon as enemies to defeat or to forget about. Unfortunately for injured workers and their families, they don’t have this luxury and they don’t have the means to fight.

Most people don’t think it will ever happen to them. That is what most of my clients have thought as well.

 

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717. 

 

Jay Causey + Brian Wright = Causey Wright!

January 2017 brings us a new firm identity – Causey Wright.  After 19 years, Causey Law Firm is transforming.

Brian Wright will lead the team with our active workers’ compensation practice, working with attorneys Jane Dale and Reed Johnson.  Jay Causey will provide oversight while retiring from case management.  

Jay has separately formed Causey Mediation, housed within the walls of Causey Wright, to continue to provide mediation services to parties involved in Longshore and Harbor Worker, Defense Base Act and Workers’ Compensation cases.

Three cheers for Causey Wright!

Vinyl Chloride Exposure and Cancer

Today’s post comes from guest author Anthony L. Lucas, from The Jernigan Law Firm.

Vinyl chloride is a colorless gas that is used primarily to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is used to make plastic products ranging from pipes to packaging materials.

 

Workers are primarily exposed to vinyl chloride through inhalation in facilities where vinyl chloride is produced or used. Exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride around 10,000 ppm can cause a person to feel dizzy or sleepy. At around 25,000 ppm, a person may pass out. Breathing fresh air will help a person recover from these episodes. However, long-term exposure to vinyl chloride can cause serious health problems including Raynaud’s phenomenon (fingers blanch, numbness and discomfort when exposed to the cold), liver damage, liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

 

Recovery for workers injured from exposure to vinyl chloride is more successful when the worker has been diagnosed with angiosarcoma of the liver because several studies have shown that it is causally associated with occupational exposure to vinyl chloride. While vinyl chloride exposure has been linked to other types of cancer, recovery may be prevented because it is more difficult to prove causation.

Published by Causey Wright