News

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration must make public workplace injuries and illnesses records, according to an announcement Wednesday by the Public Citizen Foundation, which sued the federal agency in 2018 over access. The Washington-based organization said the federal agency has until Aug. 18 to provide the data of 237,000 employers, under a federal court ruling that ends a…

Presumption laws for essential workers who acquire COVID-19 may have less of an impact than anticipated on the workers compensation system, but whether it will lead to an increase in claims workers compensation payouts is up for debate, said a group of panelists Thursday at Business Insurance’s webinar, Workers Compensation: Presumption & COVID-19. Workers compensation presumption laws, which presume that…

A Chicago-area candy company has been fined nearly $500,000 for workplace injuries, including a fingertip amputation, federal regulators said. The incidents occurred at Ferrara Candy in Bellwood, Ill. An employee lost a fingertip in January. Another worker was caught in a machine in March. “Proper safety procedures, including machine guarding and the effective lockout of all sources of energy, could…

The family of a construction worker in Chicago has filed a negligence lawsuit against a contractor after the worker fell two stories to his death last fall. The company, Destiny Builders, did not carry workers' compensation insurance on its employees and did not provide safety harnesses and railings at a church construction project, according to the lawsuit by the family…