All posts by Kit Case

Safety

Seattle Employer Fined Nearly $450,000 for Failing to Correct Workplace Hazards

A marine terminal operator in Seattle is facing a $448,200 fine from the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for failing to correct serious worker health hazards for which it was previously cited. The fine is one of L&I’s largest in recent years.

In an inspection at Seattle Bulk Shipping Inc.’s Harbor Island facility, L&I found that the company failed to correct serious violations that it was cited for last year, leaving workers exposed to serious hazards for more than a year.

The company performs several operations at the facility including transferring large quantities of highly flammable ethanol fuel from rail cars to tanker trucks, loading grain on rail cars and transferring it between trucks.

L&I’s follow-up inspection found that Seattle Bulk Shipping failed to correct a “confined space” violation it was cited for in 2015. The employer did not develop an adequate confined space entry program to protect employees who work around or inside grain pits or other confined spaces. Without safety precautions, confined spaces can be deadly to workers and would-be rescuers. Failure to correct this serious violation carries a penalty of $324,000.

The company was also cited for a second violation that hadn’t been corrected for failing to provide an approved emergency eyewash station for workers who transfer ethanol from rail cars and tanker trucks. Ethanol is a strong irritant in addition to being highly flammable; without an eyewash station, workers could suffer serious eye injuries. Failure to correct this violation carries a penalty of $108,000.

The employer was cited for three additional serious violations related to emergency procedures for potential ethanol release and confined space rescue. Each of those violations has a $5,400 penalty.

L&I began investigating the company in 2014, when a worker was hospitalized after falling into an underground grain storage pit. After comprehensive safety and health inspections, the company was ultimately cited for more than 50 workplace violations and fined $424,850. Those violations are currently under appeal. The company is considered a severe violator, which means it is subject to follow-up inspections to determine if the conditions still exist.

Seattle Bulk Shipping may appeal the violations. Penalty money paid in connection with a citation is placed in the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping workers and families of those who have died on the job.

 

Local Government

King County’s first Equity & Social Justice Strategic Plan

King County has produced a draft of it’s first strategic plan for Equity and Social Justice (ESJ). The draft plan is a blueprint for change that will guide their policies and decision-making, design and delivery of services, and workplace practices in order to advance equity and social justice within County government and in partnership with communities in the region.

Following an extensive six-month outreach effort that included over 100 community organizations prior to developing the plan and a six-month review by leaders and subject matter experts representing all County departments and agencies, the Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan has been mutually created by King County employees and community partners.

The six-year plan represents a critical opportunity for King County to do ground-breaking work by applying a theory of change that fundamentally shifts the County away from policies and practices that react to problems and crises toward investments that address the root causes of inequities, ultimately leading to better quality of life and greater prosperity in all of our communities.

The plan includes a Policy Agenda to advance equity within the next three years in the following areas:

  • Child and youth development
  • Economic Development and jobs
  • Environment and climate
  • Health and human services
  • Housing
  • Information technology
  • Justice system
  • Transportation and mobility


Read the Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan and Implementation Plan.  Please refer questions and comments about the draft plan to King County’s Office of Equity and Social Justice by August 10.

Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives via Foter.com / CC BY

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First Lawsuit Filed After OSHA Shuts Down Work at Fraser Shipyards Due to Toxic Lead Exposure

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

Madison, WI (WorkersCompensation.com) – This morning a federal lawsuit (Case Number: 16 cv 343) was filed in Madison, Wisconsin by James Holder, a 48-year-old welder and ship fabricator who was exposed to critically high and toxic levels of lead while working at Fraser Shipyards in Superior, Wisconsin. This is the first reported lawsuit to have been filed for the toxic lead exposure that occurred earlier this year at Fraser Shipyards, which was widely reported in the media in March of 2016 when OSHA shut down the worksite because of the toxic levels of lead that were present. The lawsuit names as defendants Fraser Shipyards, Inc., Northern Engineering Company LLC, and Ohio based Interlake Steamship Company, who were in charge of the retrofitting work being performed on the Herbert C. Jackson, a 690′ bulk carrier ship undergoing dry-dock work at Fraser Shipyards.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Holder was amongst dozens of workers who had started retrofitting work in January of 2016 aboard the 57 year-old vessel when they were exposed to toxic levels of lead. The lawsuit alleges that as the project progressed, workers began to make complaints of unusual illnesses afflicting them, but were falsely reassured by the defendants that there was "nothing to be concerned about." Workers continued to fall ill until OSHA ordered a halt to all work aboard the vessel in March. In Mr. Holder’s case, the levels of lead in his blood were more than 7 times the level recognized by…

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Fraud

Judge orders Federal Way, WA Woman to Repay Nearly $25,000 in Workers’ Comp Scam

DLI News Release:

A Federal Way, WA woman who worked full time as a nanny while claiming she was too disabled to work pleaded guilty to felony theft.

Yurizan Cuevas, 33, was ordered to repay the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) $24,847, the amount she received in wage-replacement payments over a period of almost two years. King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Heller also sentenced Cuevas to 20 days in jail, which was converted to 160 hours of community service.

Cuevas, who’s also known as Yurizan Cuevas Nava, pleaded guilty at the hearing this week to second-degree theft.

The Washington Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case based on an L&I investigation.

Injured in workplace robbery

Cuevas was a baker and cashier at a cafe in the White Center neighborhood of Seattle when it was robbed in November 2010. While running from the robber, she hit a wall and injured her back.

Health care providers verified Cuevas couldn’t work because of injuries from the incident, allowing her to receive wage-replacement payments from L&I. 

An L&I investigation later revealed, however, that Cuevas worked full time as a nanny, earning an estimated $3,200 a month for nearly two years starting in September 2011. According to charging papers, she also worked six weeks in 2011 as a house cleaner for another employer — performing both jobs while stating on official forms that she could not work because of her injuries.

In an interview with an L&I investigator, Cuevas acknowledged that she worked as a housekeeper and said she babysat for just a few days. But when confronted with timesheets, charging papers said, Cuevas admitted she served as a nanny from the time her charge was three months old to two years old. She’s accused of stealing more than $24,800 in wage-replacement checks from the state.

 

Photo credit: Jason L. Parks via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

 

 

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Cutting Corners in Construction Costs Lives

Today’s post was shared by US Labor Department and comes from blog.dol.gov

an image of the collapsed parking garage
an image of the collapsed parking garage

In the construction industry, precision matters – corners need to be square, lines have to be level and plans must be followed. Following the rules keeps buildings and people safe. But when construction companies cut corners, workers often pay the price.

That is exactly what happened in Jacksonville, Florida, in December 2007. A construction company called Southern Pan thought eliminating basic safety procedures would save time and money. The result? A six-story parking garage came crashing down, killing one worker and injuring 20 others. The worker who was killed, Willie Edwards, was only there that day because he decided to pick up an extra shift to buy Christmas presents for his children.

This horrific tragedy could have been easily avoided.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration enforces construction standards designed to keep workers safe from building collapses like this. To keep a building from collapsing during construction, a process called “shoring” is used, which involves wood or steel beams to help support the weight of concrete and other construction loads.

In violation of OSHA’s construction standards, Southern Pan chose to remove most of the shores from the first two floors of the parking garage, ignoring blueprints that required all shoring to remain from top to bottom until the building was completed. The company then knowingly permitted workers, including Edwards, to work in the…

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WCRI Studies Compare Outcomes of Injured Workers Across 15 States

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

Cambridge, MA (WorkersCompensation.com) – New studies published today by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) compare outcomes of injured workers across 15 states. The outcomes examined in these studies include recovery of physical health and functioning, return to work, earnings recovery, access to medical care, and satisfaction with medical care.

“The goal of the studies is to provide information about injured workers’ experiences with the workers’ compensation system. By examining outcomes of injured workers, policymakers and stakeholders can better understand how different state systems compare in order to identify and prioritize opportunities to improve system performance,” said Bogdan Savych, an economist at WCRI and one of the authors of the studies.

The research, Comparing Outcomes for Injured Workers, is a product of an ongoing, multiyear effort by WCRI to collect and examine data on the outcomes of medical care achieved by injured workers in a growing number of states. There are 15 individual studies for the following states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Below is a sample of the findings from the 15 individual state studies.

  • Florida: Workers in the state reported outcomes that were similar to the median study state on some of the key measures, but reported somewhat higher rates of…

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FDA approves first implant to treat opioid addiction

Today’s post was shared by Workers Compensation and comes from www.businessinsurance.com

(Reuters) — The first-ever implant to fight addiction to opioids, a class of drugs that includes prescription painkillers and heroin, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday.

The matchstick-sized implant, developed by Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and privately owned Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, is by design less susceptible to abuse or the illicit resale that plagues existing oral therapies.

Currently, two drugs are predominantly used to treat opioid addiction — methadone, which is dispensed only in government-endorsed clinics, and the less-addictive buprenorphine, which exists as a pill or strip of film.

The implant administers buprenorphine for up to six months after users have been stabilized on the oral form of the drug.

“I intend to make this the most successful implant that’s ever been marketed … and I think it’s absolutely possible given the unmet need,” Braeburn CEO Behshad Sheldon said in an interview ahead of the FDA decision.

Fewer than half of the estimated 2.2 million Americans who need treatment for opioid abuse are receiving help, according to the U.S. Centers for Human and Health Services.

Authorities investigating the death of singer Prince found prescription opioid medication on him, sections of the media had reported. The music legend died one day before he was scheduled to meet a doctor who specializes in addiction treatment, the doctor’s lawyer revealed earlier this month.

Braeburn declined to forecast the…

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Policy

Trumponomics: Impact on Injured Workers and the Middle Class

Paul Krugman’s July 4 New York Times Op-Ed column, “Trump, Trade and Workers”, picked apart the economic plans posed by Donald Trump in a campaign speech the prior week.  Mr. Krugman examined “the general thrust of the speech: the candidate’s claim to be on the side of American workers.”  All of the points Mr. Kruman raised are valid.  I wish to add a bit of  perspective, though, from the world of representing injured and disabled workers: an effective safety net is also necessary for a strong middle class.  

Krugman: “What’s important is that voters not mistake tough talk on trade for a pro-worker agenda. No matter what we do on trade, America is going to be mainly a service economy for the foreseeable future. If we want to be a middle-class nation, we need policies that give service-sector workers the essentials of a middle-class life. This means guaranteed health insurance — Obamacare brought insurance to 20 million Americans, but Republicans want to repeal it and also take Medicare away from millions. It means the right of workers to organize and bargain for better wages — which all Republicans oppose. It means adequate support in retirement from Social Security — which Democrats want to expand, but Republicans want to cut and privatize.”

Access to Social Security disability benefits has become difficult to obtain, particularly for younger, middle-aged applicants.  Approval rates for applications for Social Security benefits are down across the country but are staggeringly low in some metropolitan areas, such as Seattle.  State’s have been under enormous pressure to reduce costs in their workers’ compensation systems, as well.

In Washington State, changes put into place including a major “deform” movement in 2011, have saved money, granted, but nearly all of the savings were taken out of the pockets of injured workers through reductions in benefits.  

Implementation of a required Medical Provider Network with increased cost and hassle for physicians has significantly limited access to the best care for Washington’s injured workers.  We went from one of the best states in the union for high-quality workers’ compensation insurance to a place where many workers avoid filing claims and seek care under private insurance to get the care they need, quickly.  

Without sufficient benefit levels and access to quality medical care, families suffer. An injured worker receiving temporary total disability benefits receives compensation while unable to work, typically between 60 – 70% of the pre-injury wage rate although higher wage earners may receive a far smaller percentage if they bump into the cap on benefit levels.  For example, a highly skilled tradesperson, particularly if in a union, may receive compensation at 40 – 50% of pre-injury levels.  It’s hard to maintain a middle-class lifestyle on half of your pay, and even harder if it takes months to get authorization for surgery – the road to recovery can be quite long and bumpy.

Washington’s Retro Group program, where employers can reduce premium costs by opting to pay claim costs dollar-for-dollar and can receive refunds of premiums paid if their costs are lower, have inserted a profit motive into what used to be a strong system where all workers and employers shared the cost of all injuries, spreading the burden out and providing predictable coverage expenses.  With the Retro Program, employers have a vested interest in denying coverage, reducing benefits, denying treatment – every penny saved goes right back into their pocket.  It’s a whole new contentious game.  Note that the workers, who in Washington pay ½ of the premiums charged to employers, never get a refund if claim costs are low.  It is unfair, lopsided and the fights that ensue between workers and employers over coverage are handled by State agencies, State  employees, adding to the State’s expense of running the overall workers’ compensation system and eating into the “savings” gained by the reform efforts.

Workers’ compensation is intended to provide protections to those injured on the job for the purpose of ensuring a speedy recovery and return to employment, hopefully with limited financial impact to the worker and their family.  When done right, the protections can save an injured worker from financial ruin.  Implemented poorly, the system can add to the physical, emotional and financial pain after an injury.

Photo credit: George Eastman House via RemodelHunt / No known copyright restrictions

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8 Steps to Keep Workers Safe in the Heat

Today’s post was shared by US Labor Department and comes from blog.dol.gov

Keep workers safe in hot weather with water, rest and shade.
Keep workers safe in hot weather with water, rest and shade.

Forecasters are calling for above-average temperatures across much of the country this summer. Are you prepared to beat the heat?

Every year, thousands of workers become ill from working in the heat, and some even die. Construction workers make up about one-third of heat-related worker deaths, but outdoor workers in every industry – particularly agriculture, landscaping, transportation, and oil and gas operations − are at risk when temperatures go up.

Heat-related illnesses and deaths can be prevented. Employers and supervisors can save the lives of workers in hot environments by following these eight simple steps:

  1. Institute a heat acclimatization plan and medical monitoring program. Closely supervise new employees for the first 14 days or until they are fully acclimatized. Most heat-related worker deaths occur in the first 3 days on the job and more than a third occur on the very first day. New and temporary workers are disproportionately affected. If someone has not worked in hot weather for at least a week, their body needs time to adjust.
  2. Encourage workers to drink about 1 cup of water every 15-20 minutes. During prolonged sweating lasting several hours, they should drink sports beverages containing balanced electrolytes.
  3. Provide shaded or air-conditioned rest areas for cooling down, and empower workers to use them.
  4. Provide workers with protective equipment and clothing (such as water-cooled…

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Defense Medical Exam, DME, IME, Independent Medical Exam, legal

Work Comp Cost-Containment: IME Company May Fetch Billions

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

In January, I wrote about how workers’ compensation has a cost-containment industrial complex that not only harms workers but also is a potential profit generator for groups like private-equity firms.

According to this link from The Wall Street Journal, a private-equity firm named Leonard Green & Partners LP recently submitted an offer to buy an IME company called Exam Works for $2.2 billion. Yes, that’s billion with a B.

“The insurance-defense-industrial-complex has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise,” as was noted on Aleksy Belcher Law Firm’s Facebook page earlier last week (Aleksy Belcher is a workers’ compensation plaintiff’s firm based in Chicago).

The Wall Street Journal article linked above talks about the hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue that Exam Works posted last year and also its purpose.

“It said it serves more than 6,000 clients globally, including property and casualty insurance carriers, law firms, third-party claim administrators and government agencies, helping them manage costs and enhance their risk-management and compliance processes,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

What this means for injured workers and their loved ones is that the big business and added bureaucracy of “cost-containment” may translate to even more profit at the expense of injured workers, going into the private-equity company’s pockets if the sale goes through.

The way IME companies are seen as potential profit centers for private-equity firms is one of the many reasons that if an IME – Independent Medical Exam – or DME – Defense Medical Exam – is ordered for an injured worker, that injured worker should seek the advice of an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer. Workers’ compensation lawyers advocate for injured workers and help them understand the workers’ compensation process, including IMEs, so the playing field of the workers’ compensation process might be a little more even. That way, cost containment, though not as profitable for private-equity firms, can give way to injured workers getting the medical treatment and compensation that they need to move on with their lives.