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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “diminished” enforcement of its 2016 Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica rule has left “more workers at risk for exposure to silica,” according to a U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General Audit report released Thursday. The rule was created after 18 years of rulemaking to reduce and eliminate worker exposure to respirable…

The U.S. Office of Inspector General reported that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed adjudication of federal workers compensation claims and that changes to the federal opioid management rules did not increase use of narcotic painkillers. The Office of Workers’ Compensation Program received 2,866 claims for COVID-19 in the first five months following the declaration of a national public health emergency, OIG…

A former Beverly Farm Foundation employee claims she was fired in retaliation for filing a workers' compensation claim after her finger became stuck in a wheelchair. Janine Pittman filed a complaint Sept. 13 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Beverly Farm Foundation, also known as Beverly Farm Association, alleging retaliatory discharge. According to the complaint, Pittman worked for Beverly…

A majority of the 20 largest U.S. workers compensation underwriters saw their direct premiums earned increase year over year in the second quarter, with Markel Corp. recording the biggest growth at 46.3%, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis released on Thursday. Direct premiums earned for the entire workers comp industry amounted to $12.4 billion, up from $11.8 billion…

The Biden administration cited climate change as a driver behind its planned crackdown on heat-related illness and deaths among workers, but other factors likely also have contributed. Concerns over restrictions placed on federal safety officials under the Trump administration and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were likely also an impetus for the move, experts say. The Biden administration…

Saying the “financial fate” of Illinois employers could ride on the decision, the operators of a Chicago nursing home have asked the justices of the Illinois Supreme Court to rein in the state’s sweeping biometrics privacy law, which has created a stampede of class actions targeting Illinois businesses, by declaring workers’ claims against their employers under the biometrics law actually…

Workers compensation pharmacy costs continued to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a steady reduction in opioid use, according to data released Wednesday by CompPharma LLC. The Maggie Valley, North Carolina-based consulting company for pharmacy benefits managers surveyed those managing prescriptions for injured workers and found that despite reports of increased opioid use among workers comp patients during the…

A report zeroing in on medical marijuana’s status in the workers compensation arena show that although the majority of the country has laws that allow for medical use of cannabis – 36 states to date — it’s a mixed bag on whether a payer must reimburse for the drug. According to a study published in the American Journal of Industrial…

Early manual therapy for injured workers with lower back pain is associated with lower utilization of medical services, lower medical and indemnity payments, and shorter disability, according to a study released Tuesday by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute. Using data from 18 study states, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute examined outcomes of manual therapy, which it describes as a type of…