When the pandemic first began, Dawn Watkins, director of integrated disability management at the Los Angeles Unified School District, used her ironing board as a makeshift standing desk. Overcoming ergonomics issues has only grown more important since then, she said in a presentation on Tuesday at Riskworld, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s annual conference in San Francisco. “Some…
A coalition of worker unions analyzed injury reports from Amazon Inc. warehouses and found that injuries among workers increased by 20% in the pandemic. The Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of four labor unions, analyzed the injury data that Amazon submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and found that in 2021, the serious injury rate at Amazon warehouses…
When the pandemic hit two years ago a years-long strategy in the workers compensation industry was controlling opioid prescriptions — a goal that has continued despite interruptions stemming from COVID-19 claims and disruptions. Experts say opioids in new injured worker claims are continuing to trend downward, as state-mandated formularies, monitoring programs and other protocols appear to be working to curb…
More states are aiming to require workers compensation coverage for those enrolled in career apprenticeships and technical schools. Most recently, Indiana, Oklahoma and Wyoming sought to join states where this coverage is required; California, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee and Texas have passed legislation that calls on local education agencies to provide workers compensation coverage for students participating in work-based learning,…
Remote and hybrid work arrangements, which were put in place when pandemic lockdowns forced many workers to stay home, have left employers with lingering safety-related concerns even as COVID-19 fades. Many ergonomics concerns related to remote work were well-known before the pandemic, but with home offices commonplace those issues demand an extra level of attention, sources say. And employers should…
The average cost of COVID-19 related claims increased “significantly” in the last six months of 2021, according to a report released Wednesday by San Diego-based Mitchell International Inc. As of December, the average indemnity cost for a COVID-19 claim increased 40% when compared with Mitchell’s analysis of data in June 2021 to about $3,478 per claim, according to the report,…
Illinois is the only state to introduce legislation this year to create a workers compensation drug formulary, despite the documented success of such regulations in limiting the prescribing of addictive pain medications to injured workers. But experts say they don’t see the issue of opioid prescribing in comp fading as other strategies are at play. Formularies — lists of prescription…
A recent federal court ruling holding that a migrant farm worker’s death from COVID-19 fell within the scope of workers compensation law is part of a growing body of rulings that bar liability lawsuits related to the pandemic against employers. The decision also highlights safety issues related to the housing of migrant workers during the pandemic. According to the ruling…
While the majority of workers compensation claims for COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic involved a mild infection and no hospitalization, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California reports that coronavirus claims with medical payments were more likely to involve hospitalization, intensive care and fatalities. “As a result, the average medical payments per COVID-19 claim during the…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice to weigh in on whether workers compensation insurers should reimburse for medical marijuana. Specifically, the court is considering requests to review Minnesota Supreme Court decisions holding that employers can’t be compelled to reimburse injured workers for medical cannabis because it would require them to violate federal law. Before it…
