An appeals court in Illinois on Monday affirmed a previously overturned ruling denying workers compensation benefits for a gas journeyman with pre-existing asthma who was exposed to toxic fumes. Ricky A. Duncan, an employee at Ameren Corp. in Springfield, Illinois, was diagnosed with a “permanent and irreversible condition” of “severe irritant induced workplace associated bronchial reactivity” after inhaling gas fumes…
After 20 years of conflict, many U.S. soldiers and civilian contractors have returned home from Afghanistan and Iraq much different than when they first deployed. Psychological injuries are common in war zones, but a 2013 RAND Corporation Study found that civilian contractors suffer at a much greater rate. At the time of the study, 25% of private contractors showed PTSD…
About 10% of people who contracted COVID-19 continue to suffer persistent symptoms months later, creating the potential for millions of people to suffer functional impairment for extended lengths of time, according to a report released by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The report, written by Paradigm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Choo, says COVID long-haulers are anxious and irritable….
A recently published study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that the average medical payment for Indiana workers’ compensation claims with more than seven days of lost time was higher than the typical state. The study, CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Indiana, 22nd Edition, compared Indiana’s workers’ compensation system with systems in 17 other states. The WCRI analyzed workers’ compensation…
A highway worker was killed and a co-worker was seriously injured when a vehicle struck them as they were working along a rural road in eastern Indiana, state police said. The two Union County Highway Department employees were working about 9 a.m. on Oct. 18 along a road near U.S. 27 when a vehicle struck both of them, a preliminary…
An inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration at a rehabilitation and post-acute care facility in Byron, Illinois, found the health care facility did not comply with federal respiratory protection requirements in its quarantine area and failed to protect workers from coronavirus hazards. OSHA found that Generations at Neighbors LLC, operator of six similar facilities in Illinois and Indiana,…
Standardized benefits paid to injured workers from 2015 to 2019 have continued to drop, in line with a 10-year trend, according to a study released Thursday by the National Academy of Social Insurance. In studying data on coverage of the U.S. labor force, the cost of that coverage, and benefits paid to workers at both the national level and across…
Federal workplace safety officials say a Bloomingdale, Illinois, nursing facility failed to protect employees and temporary staff from possible coronavirus hazards a year after an employee died of the disease. OSHA initiated a follow-up inspection at West Suburban Nursing and Rehabilitation Center LLC on July 28, 2021, under the National Emphasis Program for Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the Emergency Temporary…
For the sixth time in seven years, a federal workplace inspection has found a Roselle, Illinois, construction contractor putting workers at risk of serious injury or death by defying federal requirements to ensure the use of fall protection. On April 16, 2021, U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors observed employees of Emerald Inc. without fall protection…
A federal agency has recommended that Tootsie Roll Industries pay more than $136,000 in fines after a machine at its Chicago plant cut off part of an employee’s finger earlier this year. In a news release, the U.S. Department of Labor said that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued one willful violation “for inadequate machine guarding” and proposed…
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