Aviation buff? Employee of The Boeing Company, past or present? Remodeling your home or office? This may be just the ticket for you.
The Boeing Company is celebrating their 100th year this July. The Boeing Store has all kinds of commemorative items for sale, from lapel pins to t-shirts to “flypaper” – fabulous, engineer-designed paper airplanes.
For those that want to really impress, though, look no further than Fallen Furniture‘s line of custom pieces, many crafted from Boeing airplane parts. Fuselage wall art, available from 1 – 30 windows wide, or the single-window fuselage clock, pictured above. My favorite: the chair made from a Boeing 737 cowling. Nothing better for a high-end, aviation-themed, home or office.
Today’s post comes from guest author Anthony L. Lucas, from The Jernigan Law Firm.
Vibration White Finger (VWF) or “Dead Finger,” now known as Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), is a chronic, progressive disorder caused by regular and prolonged use of vibrating hand tools that can progress to loss of effective hand function and necrosis of the fingers. In its advanced stages, the obvious symptom is finger blanching (losing color). Other symptoms include numbness, pain, and tingling in the fingers, as well as a weakened grip.
It is estimated that as many as 50 percent of the estimated 2 million U.S. workers exposed to hand-arm vibration will develop HAVS. Some common industries and the tools associated with HAVS are listed below:
Agriculture & Forestry – Chainsaws
Automotive – Impact Wrenches, Riveting Guns
Construction – Jackhammers
Foundries – Chippers, Grinders
Metal Working – Buffers, Sanders
Mining – Jack-Leg Drills, Stoper Drills
The time between a worker’s first exposure to hand-arm vibration to the development of HAVS symptoms can range from a few months to several years. Prevention is critical because while the early stages of HAVS are usually reversible if vibration exposure is reduced or eliminated, treatment is usually ineffective after the fingers blanch.
Nearly 100 high school students will get a jump start on their careers this summer as part of the Port of Seattle’s summer high school internship program.
“We’ve heard a lot about the shrinking middle class,” said Port Commissioner Tom Albro. “So the Port is stepping up our efforts to support family-wage jobs and to make sure there is a pipeline of trained workers for these kinds of high-demand, high-skill jobs.”
In addition to the 70 teens who will work at Port facilities, another 20 will work with private manufacturing and maritime-related employers. Students from the Career-Technical Education (CTE) programs at Seattle’s Rainier Beach and Cleveland High Schools will be recruited. The Port is asking local businesses to contribute by hiring the 20 interns for the summer.
“Internships can pave the way for a young person’s career path,” said Representative Eric Pettigrew. “We want to encourage them to get experience in the maritime and manufacturing sector, which can lead to jobs making an average of over $70,000 a year.”
There are also opportunities to explore family-wage careers in aviation and maritime by working at Sea-Tac Airport and within the Port’s Marine Maintenance Department. The Port is working with the City of Seattle’s Youth Employment Initiative to fill almost half of the available internships. A dozen of those interns will be taught how to design and build SharePoint solutions to solve real business problems.
“It’s our responsibility to prepare our youth for their future,” said Danial Gallagher, Interim Director of STEM and Arts at Seattle Public Schools. “Our community’s economy provides abundant opportunities in high-skill careers that provide productive livelihoods, but if we don’t prepare students for these careers, we effectively deny them access to these opportunities.”
Washington’s Preferred Worker Program provides an opportunity for employers to save money when hiring experienced, highly-qualified workers. Although there is no direct monetary benefit to the injured worker, having Preferred Worker status may assist the injured worker seeking to be hired due to the benefits available to the employer. The new preferred worker benefits to encourage the employment of injured workers with a permanent disability became effective January 1, 2016.
A worker may be certified as a “preferred worker,” in the sole discretion of the supervisor or supervisor’s designee, if he or she has an open state fund insured claim for an industrial injury or occupational disease that results in a permanent disability that may be a substantial obstacle to employment.
Permanent disability is defined as
a physical or mental condition, caused by the industrial injury or occupational disease which is fixed and stable, and from which, within the limits of medical probability, further recovery is not expected; and
the attending provider or other appropriate specialist within the medical provider network has documented work restrictions that prevent the worker from returning to the job of injury; and
the work restrictions are supported by medical findings appropriate to the worker’s physical or mental condition.
“Substantial obstacle to employment” means 1 or more of the following limitations apply:
The worker is unable to perform at least 1 of the essential functions of the job of injury.
L&I finds the worker eligible for vocational retraining.
The worker is permanently restricted to a lower category of work, for example, a worker previously able to perform heavy work is permanently restricted to sedentary or light work.
An employer must employ the certified preferred worker in a job that
will continue to be available into the foreseeable future, and
is confirmed as consistent with the worker’s permanent work restrictions by
the health care provider, and
the credentialed vocational rehabilitation professional who meets the qualifications in Chapter 296-19A-210 WAC.
The final determination will be made by L&I’s credentialed vocational rehabilitation professional.
The employer will not be eligible for preferred worker incentives if the offered job is:
The job of injury with minor or no modifications.
Work that is beyond the worker’s medical restrictions.
Work that requires training beyond the usual and customary training provided by the employer to similar employees.
On-the-job training.
In no case will the employer receive any preferred worker benefits until all required documentation is received by L&I. The employer must submit to L&I:
A copy of the completed job analysis or L&I’s job description form, approved by the worker’s health care provider, and
The job offer, signed by the worker, and
L&I’s Preferred Worker Request form, available on L&I’s website, completed and signed by the employer.
After the offered job is confirmed as approved by L&I’s credentialed vocational rehabilitation professional, preferred worker benefits can be granted. The benefit start date will be no earlier than the first work day after L&I receives the employer’s completed documentation.
Today’s post was shared by WC CompNewsNetwork and comes from www.workerscompensation.com
Richland, WA (WorkersCompensation.com) – Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) joined in Richland on Thursday to voice their concerns publicly over recent and repeated exposures of workers to tank vapors at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
AG Ferguson and Sen. Wyden also met with affected Hanford workers Thursday afternoon.
Ferguson, who filed a lawsuit in September of 2015 regarding worker safety issues at Hanford, reiterated his statement from earlier in the week on the recent worker exposures.
“The fact that Workers continue to be exposed to harmful vapors is shameful,” Ferguson said on Tuesday. “The events of the past several days are a disturbing illustration of why I filed a lawsuit against the federal government to protect Washingtonians who work at Hanford.
"How many Washington workers need to get sick before the federal government solves this problem? I call on President Obama and Secretary Moniz to become personally involved in this issue. What’s happening at Hanford isn’t right, and I am exploring further legal options to keep our workers safe at Hanford.”
A Battle Ground, WA siding company faces a substantial fine from the state after being cited for workplace safety violations involving fall hazards for the seventh time in four years.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) recently cited Olympic Siding Inc., for four repeat-serious and four serious violations, with total penalties of $135,800.
Three of the repeat-serious violations were for unsafe use of a ladder and failure to ensure fall protection for employees working on a roof and scaffold. Each of those violations carries a penalty of $33,600. The other repeat-serious citation was for not ensuring employees wore eye protection when using power tools. That violation has a $21,000 penalty.
The siding company was also cited for not requiring hard hats ($4,200), unsafe means of exiting a 15-foot scaffold ($4,200), failure to have a formal written accident prevention program tailored to the needs of the workplace ($1,400) and improper use of a self-supporting ladder ($4,200). All are considered “serious” violations because there’s a substantial probability that they could result in worker death or serious physical harm.
Falls from ladders, roofs and other elevated work spaces are the leading cause of construction worker fatalities and hospitalizations. Last year, six construction workers died from falls, the highest number since 2006.
So far this year, three construction workers have fallen to their deaths. The most recent fatality occurred May 16th in Issaquah, when a worker fell nearly 50 feet from a scaffold. In another incident last week in Yakima, a roofer fell eight feet and was seriously injured.
The Olympic Siding inspection began in January when an L&I compliance officer observed two workers without fall protection on the roof of a residence in Vancouver.
As a result of these repeat-serious violations, Olympic Siding Inc. is now considered a severe violator and will be subject to follow-up inspections to determine if the conditions still exist in the future.
The company has appealed the citation.
Penalty money paid as a result of a citation goes into the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.
For a copy of the citation, contact Public Affairs at 360-902-5413.
In 2014, President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to update the overtime regulations to reflect the original intent of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to simplify and modernize the rules so they’re easier for workers and businesses to understand and apply. The department has issued a final rule that will put more money in the pockets of middle class workers – or give them more free time.
The final rule will:
Raise the salary threshold indicating eligibility from $455/week to $913 ($47,476 per year), ensuring protections to 4.2 million workers.
Automatically update the salary threshold every three years, based on wage growth over time, increasing predictability.
Strengthen overtime protections for salaried workers already entitled to overtime.
Provide greater clarity for workers and employers.
Overtime updates will extend protections to 4.2 million workers across the country. The final rule will become effective on December 1, 2016, giving employers more than six months to prepare. The final rule does not make any changes to the duties test for executive, administrative and professional employees.
Impact on Workers’ Compensation Claims
Workers’ compensation benefits paid to an injured worker while they are unable to return to work after an injury are paid based on a percentage of the wages earned prior to the injury. In Washington State, overtime hours are included in the benefit rate calculation but only at the base hourly wage. This only applies to hours that are paid as overtime – unpaid hours are not counted. When this new overtime rule takes effect, an estimated 76,000 people in Washington State will be eligible to receive overtime pay. If any of these workers are injured on the job, their compensation rate will include the overtime hours they worked prior to the injury.
Today’s post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from burnpitclaims.blogspot.com
A revised Case Management Order (CMO) has been entered by the Court in the Burn Pit Lawsuit. The Second Amended CMO provides that the Court will hold an evidentiary hearing on December 15 and 16, 2016 to determine whether the Court has subject matter jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit.
The Order directs that the parties (Service members and KBR) and the United States Government, to exchange information so that the Court may make a determination as to whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case against Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) for alleged negligence involving Iraq and Afghanistan burn pit sites.
The Court has directed that KBR and the United States Government identify what bases KBR was involved with in Iraq and Afghanistan. Testimony, written and electronic documentary evidence, and photographs will be reviewed to determine the level and extent of KBR’s roll, if any, in the operation of the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The cases have been brought by: veterans, private military contractor employees and civilian government employees, who were exposed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The action is against KBR for damages "caused [by] harm through the negligent use of burn pits and improper water treatment."
The case is a consolidated Multidistrict Ligation (MDL) matter that consists of multiple individual cases. KBR was hired by the United States to provide logistical support for the military during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Today’s post was shared by US Labor Department and comes from blog.dol.gov
A Clark Construction worker models a properly-fitted safety harness at a 2015 stand down in the District of Columbia.
As a longtime field investigator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I’ve seen the aftermath of tragedies caused by falls. Each case is painful, but a few stand out for their heartbreak.
Last year, my team and I were called in to a Pennsylvania construction site where three-story apartments were going up. The fall had been captured on closed circuit video: A 27-year-old worker was being lifted onto the roof by the long arm of a rough terrain forklift when the wobbly platform he stood upon suddenly tipped over, throwing him 40 feet to the ground.
It was his first day on the job.
The fall caused spinal injuries so severe it’s likely he will never walk again. Even now, a year later, he needs help holding a cup of water.
His story hit our team hard because he is so young, and his injuries could have been prevented so easily. We couldn’t help but think, “What will his future be like? What if he was a member of my family?”
Even worse, his story is just one of thousands. Falls are completely preventable with proper training and equipment, yet they are still the leading cause of fatalities in the construction industry. In 2014 alone, 647 workers were killed from falls in the United States and many more were injured.
Our work inspires us to do everything possible to prevent falls. One way we bring attention to fall hazards…
