A 29-year-old worker suffered the amputation of a fingertip while reassembling a pump at a Hostess Brands LLC facility in Chicago, an injury the employer could have prevented by ensuring to shut down and lockout the equipment to prevent it from unexpectedly starting during maintenance, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found. Inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health…
As information about long COVID evolves, workers compensation experts are watching how clinical changes and statistics may impact compensability for workers who continue to struggle with the disease’s effects. Last week, the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California released data showing that in 2020 and 2021, comp claims involving treatment for long COVID symptoms were four times more likely…
An Illinois specialty frozen pizza manufacturer has been issued $2.8 million in proposed fines by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a worker died while cleaning company machinery. OSHA on Thursday announced it cited Gurnee-based Miracapo Pizza Co. for 16 willful egregious violations, one willful violation and 12 serious violations after a temporary worker died during a December…
An Illinois roofing contractor who still owes $31,163 in outstanding workplace safety penalties has again been cited and hit with additional fines after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says its inspectors found the company continues to expose workers to fall hazards. OSHA announced Tuesday that it cited Fairmont City-based JZ Exteriors and Repairs LLC for five repeat violations,…
The total number of compensable work injuries in the U.S. food manufacturing sector decreased post-pandemic, with a 13% decline in workers compensation claims from pre-COVID-19 levels, according to a report released Wednesday by AmTrust Financial Services Inc. The specialty insurer examined 15,000 comp claims in food manufacturing between 2018 and 2022, finding that general workplace injuries were down in 2020,…
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…
