The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited an Illinois plumbing contractor after a worker died in a trench cave-in last December. OSHA announced Thursday that it cited Burr Ridge-based Rooter Solutions Inc. for one willful violation and one serious violation in connection with the incident that occurred during work on a damaged residential water line. The agency fined the…
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has declared a Midwest roofing contractor in default after failing to properly address workplace safety violations, assessing full financial penalties against the company. The commission, in a March decision publicized Wednesday, found Joshua Herion, and his Waukegan, Illinois-based company, ECS Roofing Professionals Inc., in default after the company refused to comply with proceedings…
Illinois lawmakers are considering two bills that would establish limits on causation for compensable workplace injuries and redraft medical fee schedules in workers compensation. H.B. 4082, introduced Wednesday, would set parameters on what constitutes an injury that occurs “out of and in the course of employment.” The bill states that such an injury would be compensable “only if the accident…
A second bill that would create a closed drug formulary for injured workers in Illinois was introduced Thursday, in line with a yearslong trend among lawmakers there aiming to mandate how drugs are prescribed under workers compensation. H.B. 4087, which was referred to the rules committee, calls on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, upon consultation with the Workers’ Compensation Medical…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker this week signed a law providing full disability benefits to Chicago police officers and firefighters struck by COVID-19 before vaccines were available, presiding over an emotional statehouse ceremony which marked the end of a financial struggle for responders including the brother of Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Act-of-Duty law, HB3162, ensures disability benefits of 75% of salary plus…
The utilization of nonhospital and hospital outpatient services in the Illinois workers compensation system decreased in 2020, the drop attributed to medical facility closures and service limitations during the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Tuesday’s study said the percentage of workers comp claims with major surgery decreased mostly in the…
An end to the pandemic national emergency does not mean an end to COVID-19 workers compensation claims, but claim activity has decreased dramatically, experts say. On April 10, President Joe Biden signed a resolution ending the national emergency related to the pandemic, which ended some temporary federal programming and waivers but left intact the public health emergency over the virus….
A reversal of a years-long trend that saw dips in drug use among injured workers, prescriptions in workers compensation inched up in 2022 with drug utilization per claim increasing 2.6%, costs per claim increasing 3.7%, and costs per prescription rising 1.1%, according to a report released Wednesday by Enlyte Group LLC. Enlyte, which provides comp services, also found the top…
Workers compensation medical payments per claim in numerous states decreased through 2020 and 2021, while indemnity benefits grew during that same time, reflecting economic changes during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to comp industry research released Tuesday. A package of studies released Tuesday by the Workers Compensation Research Institute compared medical payments, indemnity benefits and benefit…
Jobs with the highest rates of opioid overdose fatalities generally have high occupational injury rates and low access to paid sick leave, according to a research paper on the economic impacts of opioids released Monday by the Brookings Institution. Industries with the highest rates of overdose fatalities in the workplace have elevated occupational injury rates for fractures and musculoskeletal disorders,…
