Fewer injured workers are receiving opioids to treat pain than in previous years, as medical providers are turning more to non-opioid medications and physical therapies. A new study of injured worker claims from 27 states by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) finds that both treatments using non-opioid pain medications such as NSAIDs and non-pharmacologic treatments such as physical therapy…
One of the most unfair things about the law that you can’t do anything about is the bad luck of the draw. If you are sitting at a stop light and get rear-ended by a person with $20,000 in insurance and become paralyzed, you are likely only going to recover that $20,000. On the other hand, if you are struck…
A divided Illinois appeals court has ruled a man injured in a Chicago area workplace accident dawdled too long before suing the contractor who installed allegedly faulty machinery. However, the dissenting justice said the majority “penalized” the worker by unreasonably expecting him to have immediately known the contractor had done the installation. The July 16 ruling was written by Justice…
A client is suing his lawyer, alleging the defendant failed to properly represent him in a workers’ compensation claim. Peter Medor filed a complaint July 15 in Cook County Circuit Court against The Deratany Firm LLC and Greg Olmstead, alleging legal malpractice. According to the complaint, Medor entered into an agreement with Olmstead on Feb. 15, 2013, for legal representation…
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is increasingly concerned about suicides and opioid-related deaths in the construction sector, according to agency officials. The construction sector has one of the highest rates of occupational fatalities, with a rate of 9.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers and was responsible for 18.9% of the 5,147 workplace fatalities that occurred in 2017, according to…
An organization which helps Illinois local governments pool their workers’ compensation insurance has won the chance to sidestep the federal courts’ “black hole” as it pursues its own legal claims against the makers and distributors of so-called opioid painkillers. On July 15, rather than waiting on others in the federal judiciary to decide what to do with the case, U.S….
A House of Representatives bill would direct the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to adopt a standard to prevent occupational exposure to excessive heat in both indoor and outdoor environments. However, some observers say it is unnecessary, given that OSHA can issue its own regulations. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., on Wednesday introduced the…
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has released a strategy for managing potentially harmful chemicals that would assign them into categories to help protect workers. A vast number of chemical substances in commerce do not have occupational exposure limits, meaning that workers may be exposed to these substances at potentially harmful levels, John Howard, director of NIOSH, said…
The number of workers who fall outside of workers compensation is likely to rise in the future, potentially impacting workers compensation, according to a report released Thursday by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The Boca Raton, Florida-based NCCI released its quarterly economics briefing, which revealed that more people are relying on nontraditional work as a secondary source of income,…
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Hudapack Metal Treating of Illinois Inc. – based in Glendale Heights, Illinois – for 21 serious health and safety violations. The company faces penalties of $181,662. OSHA inspected the company in December 2018 after an employee was electrocuted while using a damaged portable lamp when cleaning the…
