Congratulations – to Jordan Barab of Confined Space. He recently celebrated his 3-year blogiversary, and now this week, his blog has been recognized with a Koufax Award for Best Single Issue Blog. Well deserved recognition it is – Jordan is a tireless voice for worker safety, shedding light on topics that would otherwise be relegated to coverage in obscure journals and the back pages of newspapers, if at all. He’s knowledgeable, passionate, and indefatigable. We join the chorus in extending our appreciation for the work that he does. Kudos also to Tammy Miser who helps Jordan compile The Weekly Toll
Immigrant workers – Peter Rousmaniere at Working Immigrants reports on the AgJobs Bill that passed the Judiciary Committee March 27. Hopefully, it will have some protections for sheepherders. WorkplaceProf Blog points us to a story in the Washington Post about the bleak and terrible work of sheepherding, one of the many jobs that no U.S. citizen wants and immigrants perform. It’s hard to believe that people in this country work under such conditions.
Dispute resolution – This is a nice story – three California construction-industry unions helped save employers $3 million on workers’ compensation premiums in a new dispute resolution program for injured workers: “… none of the 380 employee claims reported since its inception 18 months ago has landed in court. The program encourages injured workers, their employers and health care providers to work together to avoid costly lawsuits.
Substance Abuse – The DOL is encouraging employers to recognize April as Alcohol Awareness Month. The state that “… Workplace alcohol use and impairment affect an estimated 15 percent of the U.S. workforce, or 19.2 million workers, according to the result of a recent study by the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions.”
Pharma news – Joe Paduda has posted a Workers comp pharmacy news roundup reporting on things he learned while attending the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) meeting in Phoenix last week.
Worker Memorials – a collection of Worker memorials via rawblogXport. Remember, April 28 is International Worker Memorial day – what better tribute than to redouble your organization’s commitmet to “zero injuries.” If quality initiatives can produce zero defects for manufacturing, we should be able to do the same for workers, no?
Blogging – I guess this blogging business makes for some strange bedfellows. Nick at Blogboygmi announces the surprising news that Grand Rounds now has a corporate sponsor. Be sure to read the comments to learn what the other contributors and readers think of this idea.