Federal officials have cited three employers for workplace safety hazards after a worker suffered injuries at Northwestern University’s campus in Evanston, Ill. Northwestern University, Hill Mechanical Corp. and National Heat & Power Corp. collectively face a total of $235,962 in proposed penalties for exposing workers to permit-required confined space hazards associated with underground steam vaults, according to the U.S. Department…
Employees will be filing workers comp claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains unclear what proportion of the claims will be compensable, a panel of experts said. Rules regarding occupational disease claims vary by state and in many cases workers will not be able to prove they contracted the disease at work, they said. However, the scope and…
The family of a Walmart Inc. employee in Illinois who died after contracting COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, has filed a lawsuit accusing the retail giant of failing to adequately screen and protect workers. The lawsuit filed in Illinois state court on Monday by the estate of Wando Evans says the Walmart store south of Chicago was…
Federal and state agencies have seen a large influx of workplace safety complaints related to the COVID-19 outbreak, and experts urge employers to create exposure control plans in case an agency comes knocking. Unlike the flu and common cold, COVID-19 is considered a recordable illness by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “This is the busiest we’ve ever been,”…
An Arcola, Illinois-based manufacturer faces over $258,000 in penalties and numerous citations for violations of federal machine safety standards, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported. Monahan Filaments LLC was cited after an employee suffered severe injuries. The manufacturer of synthetic filaments for brushes and brooms faces $258, 271 in penalties, and was placed in…
A nationwide shortage of N95 masks and newly relaxed standards for personal protective equipment have workers on the front lines treating coronavirus patients and medical associations both praising efforts to ramp up production and protesting federal guidance over fears that it places them at greater risk of contracting the virus. “We just do not have the quantity (of N95 masks)…
Hospital costs in workers compensation continue to decrease, likely due to fewer surgeries, changes in reimbursement and a shift from hospital in-patient care to outpatient care, according to research presented Friday at the Workers Compensation Research Institute’s 36th Annual Issue and Research Conference. “There’s a fairly steady shifting from in-patient care to outpatient care,” said Carol Telles, senior analyst at…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration released on Monday guidance to help employers prepare their workplaces for an outbreak of COVID-19 — along with a reminder that any incidents of employees contracting the novel coronavirus at work are recordable illnesses, subject to the same rules and failure-to-record fines as other workplace injuries and illnesses. While OSHA specifically exempts employers from…
State and federal lawmakers hoping to stay ahead of COVID-19 are introducing legislation to address infectious disease measures, emergency funding and unemployment and sick leave pay. On Monday, Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., introduced H.B. 6139 in the U.S. House of Representatives, which calls on the Secretary of Labor to issue an emergency temporary standard requiring certain employers to develop and…
Workers compensation legal experts say employers can look at past outbreaks and pandemics to try to understand the intersection of workplace injury and coronavirus, but that even history may not provide an accurate picture of what to expect if a pandemic occurs. “We don’t have precedence on this issue because we don’t have a lot of exposures to pandemics,” said…
