Today’s post comes from guest author Kristina Brown Thompson, from The Jernigan Law Firm.
The North Carolina Industrial Commission recently joined many other states (i.e. Massachusetts) in tackling the issue of opioids in the workers’ compensation cases by creating a Workers’ Compensation Opioid Task Force. The goal of the task force is to “study and recommend solutions for the problems arising from the intersection of the opioid epidemic and related issues in workers’ compensation claims.” According to the Chair, “[o]pioid misuse and addiction are a major public health crisis in this state.”
As of last June, a study by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) noted “noticeable decreases in the amount of opioids prescribed per workers’ compensation claim.” From 2012 – 2014, “the amount of opioids received by injured workers decreased.” In particular, there were “significant reductions in the range of 20 to 31 percent” in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Texas.
Additionally last March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new recommendations for prescribing opioid medications for chronic pain “in response to an epidemic of prescription opioid overdose, which CDC says has been fueled by a quadrupling of sales of opioids since 1999.”
Currently, the CDC’s recommendations for prescribing opioids for chronic pain outside of active cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care will likely follow these steps:
1. Non-medication therapy / non-opioid will be preferred for chronic pain.
2. Before starting opioid therapy for chronic pain, clinicians should establish treatment goals and consider how therapy will be discontinued if benefits do not outweigh risks.
3. Before starting and periodically during opioid therapy, clinicians should discuss with patients known risks and realistic benefits of opioid therapy.
The Port of Seattle recently kicked off a campaign to hire 150 high school and college interns to work at Port of Seattle facilities and for private employers this summer. Because recruiting young people to maritime industries has been challenging, there is a lack of future workers in the pipeline to meet the future demand. These jobs offer competitive pay and benefits, but those who could benefit the most may not be aware these opportunities exist.
Examples of recent news media coverage about the need for maritime workers included stories by Q13 FOX, KNKX and KOMO NEWS.
The Port of Seattle urges businesses in Port-related industries to join in by hosting student workers over the next few months. The Port of Seattle’s Intern Sponsor Program places future leaders with small businesses connected to the port, the waterfront, and local manufacturers.
Port of Seattle opens 150 paid high school and college summer internship slots, expands comprehensive effort to address urgent need for skilled workers as current workers retire.
The Port of Seattleannounced their kick off of its 2017 summer intern program with 150 paid roles for high school and college students. The internship program, which tripled the number of positions offered from two years ago, is one element of the Port’s community-based effort to close the labor gap as the Boomer Generation leaves the workforce.
“We need to tackle three fundamental challenges in our economy right now: a coming labor shortfall in skilled trades and Port-related industries, fewer industries creating good paying jobs that support the middle class, and a lack of opportunities in disadvantaged communities,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Stephanie Bowman. “Port-related industries offer those good paying jobs. We designed our internship program and partnerships to do more to inspire students to explore these industries, learn about skills training and get connected to opportunities.”
In addition to the open roles at the Port, area businesses in the maritime and manufacturing sectors are participating in an expanded pilot program to host and train their own interns. In 2016, companies like Vigor and Status Ceramics partnered with the Port to create additional opportunities for students.
This year, even more companies are encouraged to take part. Participation in the program means the placement of a Port-recruited intern and support in the form of training for intern supervisors, access to youth counselors, and off-site education and enrichment opportunities.
“Some of our students are looking to join the workforce immediately after graduating, and they need to make a living in this rapidly growing region,” said Chris Names of the Aerospace Science and Technology Skill Center program of the Seattle Public Schools. “These jobs can provide the solid skills and industry connections for kids that want to start a career here.”
The Port of Seattle, private employers, and other public sector agencies are applying lessons from the aviation and technology industries that drove students to careers in STEM. Sarah Scherer is managing the recruitment program for the Youth Maritime Collaborative, an organization of maritime industry companies, educational institutions, non-profits, community service providers, and public agencies established to help address the maritime industry’s urgent need for skilled workers.
“The Seattle Maritime Academy welcomes this partnership with the Port of Seattle. Classes at the academy can put students in trades paying around $70,000 a year, well above the state average,” Scherer said. “Our region was built on the skill and vision of an entire generation of workers and we must carry that work forward to keep our region inclusive and competitive.”
“Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Skills Center are excited for this opportunity to collaborate with the Port of Seattle and our other partners in the Youth Maritime Collaborative to help prepare our students for careers in the maritime industry,” said Dan Golosman, Principal of the Seattle Skills Center. “With thousands of job openings predicted in the next five years in maritime manufacturing and transportation and logistics, we need to provide opportunities for training that will prepare our students for these careers. Whether our students go straight into a job right after high school, continue into post-secondary education, or complete post-graduate work, the Career and Technical Education training we can provide through partnerships like the Youth Maritime Collaborative will help prepare students for the careers of the 21st Century.”
On March 30, the Youth Maritime Collaborative hosted an interactive event where those interested in maritime careers could meet potential employers and explore a variety of opportunities in the field. The event allowed participants to learn about and experience:
marine safety
cold water survival techniques without getting wet
some seamanship skills like knot tying and line handling
the science of oil spills
oceanography
hydrography and nautical charting
commerical diving
a research submarine
USCG damage control simulator
bridge and engine room simulations
boat tours
The Port supports year-round workforce and career development programs with youth and adults. In addition to youth career exploration events, the Port supports programs with local private employers and unions to improve career pathways for airport workers looking to take on more challenging and higher wage work, and is working to increase adult referrals to pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, and union trades job opportunities through a trades partnership with local governments and nonprofits.
The WA Department of Labor and Industries has announced labor law training for employers in April, including as a topic “workers’ compensation claims.” While this notice of training is directed to employers that hire migrant workers under H-2A visas, it is interesting to note that Washington State provides workers’ compensation coverage to injured workers regardless of their immigration status. Non-documented injured workers receive the full complement of benefits under our system, although with wrinkles that can be manipulated by the employer or claims manager to limit benefits.
The full text of the training announcement follows:
Agricultural supervisors and crew bosses who have the right training play an important role in ensuring that employers who hire migrant, seasonal and foreign workers with H-2A visas are following the law.
Training on state and federal labor laws will be offered in Spanish and English at labor laws forums in Yakima on April 26 and Wenatchee on April 27.
The forums are sponsored by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, the Washington Employment Security Department and the U. S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.
The free half-day trainings cover wage and hour requirements, workplace safety and health regulations, transportation and housing, workers’ compensation claims and more.
Space is limited, so preregistration is recommended. For more information or to register, go to:
They used an arcane procedural maneuver to repeal a significant safety regulation issued by the Obama administration.
WASHINGTON ― The Republican-led Congress moved to dismantle yet another corporate regulation on Wednesday, in a move that safety experts say will make it easier for employers to hide serious workplace injuries from the government.
The Senate voted 50-48 to strike down a rule issued late in Barack Obama’s presidency that requires large employers to keep an ongoing record of health and safety incidents. The Obama administration issued the rule in an effort to solidify what it considered long-standing policy at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
By doing away with the rule, Republicans are effectively cutting down the length of time that employers in dangerous industries are required to keep injury records ― from five years to just six months. Former OSHA officials say that doesn’t provide enough time to identify recurring problems with particular employers or industries.
They also say the change gives unscrupulous employers little incentive to keep an accurate log of injuries, since it will be more difficult for them to be penalized for not doing so. When employers have a track record of such injuries, it can lead to higher workers’ compensation costs and more government scrutiny.
“This will give license to employers to keep fraudulent records and to willfully violate the law with impunity,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA policy adviser now with the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers.
On March 7th, Boeing rolled out of their Renton, WA factory the first ever 737 MAX 9, the largest member of the 737 MAX family. With 16 more seats than the popular 737 MAX 8 plus more range, flexibility and lower trip costs than the competition, the 737 MAX 9 will be used by airlines to grow while maintaining maximum profitability.
The 737 MAX 9 now begins system checks, fueling and engine runs on the flight line. Once completed, the airplane will begin flight testing — the final phase of verification of the operational characteristics and overall performance of a new airplane.
The highest lead levels were found in the blood of people who work with guns and ammunition, according to the California Department of Public Health.
More than 6,000 California workers in munitions, manufacturing and other industries have elevated levels of lead in their blood that could cause serious health problems, according to a recent report from the state’s public health agency.
The report, containing the results of tests conducted between 2012 and 2014, comes as the state’s workplace health and safety agency, Cal/OSHA, is considering a major update of its safety standards for workplace lead exposure for the first time in decades. The current standards are based on 35-year-old medical findings, which at the time did not recognize the dangers of even low-level exposure to lead. More recent science shows chronic, low-level lead exposure can cause lasting harm.
“It doesn’t surprise me. This is a huge problem,” said Doug Parker, executive director of Worksafe, a worker health and safety advocacy organization based in Oakland. “Clearly, there haven’t been adequate actions taken” by some employers, he said.
Lead is a naturally occurring element. The soft gray metal and its various compounds have been used in many products, including pipes, paint, batteries, ammunition, industrial equipment and gasoline. Workers can be exposed to lead in the form of dust, either inhaled or swallowed, or by handling lead-tainted items.
Most public health actions have focused on protecting children from lead exposure and quickly treating those who are exposed, since the metal can severely impair their development.
But adults also can face serious health problems from lead exposure, including heart disease, reproductive problems, cognitive difficulties and kidney failure. Some workers exposed to lead dust in the workplace have unwittingly carried it home on their clothes, exposing their families to it.
The authors of the report examined data from the California Occupational Blood Lead Registry, which tracks workplace exposures. From 2012 to 2014, 38,440 workers had their blood tested for lead, and 6,051 workers were identified with an elevated level of 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter (about 3.3 ounces) of blood. Most of these workers were men between the ages of 20 and 59 and had Hispanic surnames. Many lived in Southern California, particularly in Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The California Department of Public Health, which released the report last month, did not make an expert available for comment.
About 14,000 of the workers had two or more blood lead tests, which showed about a fifth of them had elevated blood lead levels, according to the report. More than one elevated blood test suggests chronic exposure linked to health problems, the researchers noted.
Dr. James Weinstein, a back pain specialist and chief executive of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System, has some advice for most people with lower back pain: Take two aspirin and don’t call me in the morning.
On Monday, the American College of Physicians published updated guidelines that say much the same. In making the new recommendations for the treatment of most people with lower back pain, the group is bucking what many doctors do and changing its previous guidelines, which called for medication as first-line therapy.
Dr. Nitin Damle, president of the group’s board of regents and a practicing internist, said pills, even over-the-counter pain relievers and anti-inflammatories, should not be the first choice. “We need to look at therapies that are nonpharmacological first,” he said. “That is a change.”
The recommendations come as the United States is struggling with an epidemic of opioid addiction that often begins with a simple prescription for ailments like back pain. In recent years, a number of states have enacted measures aimed at curbing prescription painkillers. The problem has also led many doctors around the country to reassess prescribing practices.
The group did not address surgery. Its focus was on noninvasive treatment.
The new guidelines said that doctors should avoid prescribing opioid painkillers for relief of back pain and suggested that before patients try anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants, they should try alternative therapies like exercise, acupuncture, massage therapy or yoga. Doctors should reassure their patients that they will get better no matter what treatment they try, the group said. The guidelines also said that steroid injections were not helpful, and neither was acetaminophen, like Tylenol, although other over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin, naproxen or ibuprofen could provide some relief.
“Many people with chronic back pain tend to shut down, avoiding their usual activities, afraid of making things worse…”
Dr. Weinstein, who was not an author of the guidelines, said patients have to stay active and wait it out. “Back pain has a natural course that does not require intervention,” he said.
In fact, for most of the people with acute back pain — defined as present for four weeks or less that does not radiate down the leg — there is no need to see a doctor at all, said Dr. Rick Deyo, a spine researcher and professor at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and an author of the new guidelines.
“For acute back pain, the analogy is to the common cold,” Dr. Deyo said. “It is very common and very annoying when it happens. But most of the time it will not result in anything major or serious. ”
Even those with chronic back pain — lasting at least 12 weeks — should start with nonpharmacological treatments, the guidelines say. If patients still want medication, they can try over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin.
Scans, like an M.R.I., for diagnosis are worse than useless for back pain patients, members of the group said in telephone interviews. The results can be misleading, showing what look like abnormalities that actually are not related to the pain.
Measures that help patients get back to their usual routines can help along the way, as Sommer Kleweno Walley, 43, of Seattle, can attest. Last spring, she slipped on the stairs in her house and fell down hard, on her back.
“After a couple of hours I could barely walk,” she said. “I was in real pain.”
She saw a physical therapist, but the pain persisted. Eleven days later, she showed up at the office of Dr. Christopher J. Standaert, a spine specialist at the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center. She expected to receive an M.R.I., at least, and maybe a drug for pain.
But Dr. Standaert told her an M.R.I. would not make any difference in her diagnosis or recovery and that the main thing was to keep active. She ended up getting anti-inflammatory medication and doing physical therapy. A few months later, her back stopped hurting.
Today’s post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from baltimore.cbslocal.com.
NOTE: In Washington State’s workers’ compensation system, any injured worker receives time loss compensation benefits until they recover medically to the point that they are again able to return to “reasonably continuous, gainful employment,” regardless of projected retirement age. There is no provision for long-term lost earning capacity and the monetary benefits paid for permanent impairment are quite limited. kc
BALTIMORE, MD – NOVEMBER 01: Center Jeremy Zuttah #53 of the Baltimore Ravens lays injured against the San Diego Chargers during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium on November 1, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Should injured pro athletes be allowed to earn worker compensation benefits until they are 67 years old, like other workers, even if their athletic careers normally would have ended more than 30 years earlier?
That issue is being debated between the Chicago Bears and the NFL Players Association in the Illinois Legislature as one unlikely element of a compromise proposal to end a nearly two-year-long fight over the state’s budget.
The Bears are leading other Chicago sports franchises in backing a measure that would reduce a former player’s ability to tap into workers compensation after a career-ending injury. They want to cap certain payments to athletes at no older than 35 or five years after their injury. Currently they can claim benefits up to age 67, like other workers.
Neither the teams nor players’ advocates will say how much money is at stake. They agree it is not a relatively big pot — while theoretically some could claim millions, most if not all athletes settle their claims for reduced sums up front, the players association says.
Only a handful of pro players filed for the benefit here in the past four years, although the association would not identify them or describe their individual cases.
Today’s post was shared by Jon L Gelman and comes from madisonrecord.com
CHICAGO – An Illinois workers’ compensation attorney is saluting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for his proposal to eliminate an independent review board that handles work comp cases.
Keefe believes Illinois should take notes on Walker’s budget proposal.
Keefe believes Illinois should take notes on Walker’s budget proposal. | Shutterstock
Eugene Keefe, a partner with Keefe, Campbell, Biery and Associates, believes Illinois should learn from Walker.
“The problem we have in Illinois is we have too much government,” Keefe told the Record.
In Walker’s 2017-19 budget plan, the governor has proposed $593 million in tax and fee cuts including the defunding of the Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC) by 2019.
By defunding the LIRC, the governor believes he will save about $3.2 million over a two-year span.
“Scott Walker is a genius in my opinion,” Keefe said. “He has cut annual spending by like $5 billion a year.”
“In Illinois, we’ve gone the other way,” Keefe continued.
The LIRC is a three-member board that is responsible for reviewing appeals of disputed workers’ compensation claims.
“Walker, by getting rid of the board, is saying ‘we don’t need that much government,’” Keefe said.
In Illinois, workers’ compensation claims go through five levels of hearings and appeals.
“All of those processes cost Illinois taxpayers a lot of money,” Keefe said.
