Ready for a bi-weekly grab-bag of risk-related reading? Jacob A. Irwin hosts Cavalcade of Risk # 127 – Riskiest Jobs Edition at My Personal Finance Journey.
Agents & Experience Mods – What role do insurance agents play in keeping a client’s workers’ comp losses as low as possible? In PropertyCasualty360, Kevin Ring of the Institute of WorkCompProfessionals offers Six Ways to Keep a Client’s Experience Mod Under Control.
Federalization – Over the years, talk about the impending federalization of workers comp has surfaced time and again. In recent years, with healthcare reform and a move to increased federal oversight of financial industries, talk of workers comp federalization has increased. Joe Paduda classifies this as a “never gonna happen” thing, and he makes his case in a four-part argument: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
More charges filed in Upper Big Branch case – Ken Ward of Coal Tattoo reports that criminal charges were filed against a former Massey Energy employee who faked his certification to perform safety exams. Ward reports that “…he is the second person to be charged as part of what is said to be a broad federal criminal investigation of the explosion and safety practices at the Massey operation.” You can find more of Ken’s reporting in the archives of the Upper Big Branch Disaster.
Healthcare – Liz Borkowski of The Pump Handle looks at The Affordable Health Care Act’s first year and sees some disappointments but also great progress. Her post highlights a provisions that have already kicked in. And in another healthcare report, a new survey by Gallup reveals that there is a wide discrepancy in health coverage across U.S. metro areas. Nine of the ten most uninsured metro areas surveyed were in Texas and California; 8 out of the metro areas with the lowest percentage of uninsureds were in the northeast.
Just for fun – Your enjoyment and amusement at the following site will be in direct proportion to your age: Obsolete Skills is a wiki database of things we used to know that are no longer very useful to us. Some of these skills are everyday matters like dialing a rotary phone or adjusting rabbit ears, but the list is also a compendium of disappeared jobs, such as taking shorthand, asbestos installation, blacksmiths, bookbinding, and more. It’s a fun site to browse and because it’s a wiki, you can also contribute.
Quick Takes
- Roberto Ceniceros on Telecommuting
- HR Daily Advisor: Must You Allow Telecommuting as an ADA Accommodation?
- Fraud: Social Media the Latest Tool for Health Care Fraud Investigators
- Safety: The Triangle Fire 100 Years Later: Lessons Learned and Unlearned
- Monthly Labor Review: Nonfatal Injuries and Illnesses in State and Local Government Workplaces in 2008 (PDF)
- Compensability: Co-worker’s Falling Asleep at Wheel is Negligent, Covered by Workers’ Comp
- OSHA: Small Business Compliance Guidance Issued for Final Rule for Cranes & Derricks
- Canada: Human Resources Legislative Update Blog
Tags: Affordable Care Act, agents, Experience modification, federalization, Upper Big Branch Mine
