Archive for April, 2017

April 28: Workers Memorial Day

Friday, April 28th, 2017

Every April 28 is dedicated to Workers Memorial Day, when working people throughout the world remember those who were hurt or killed on the job. It’s also a time to recommit to and renew the quest for safe workplaces. The following are some resources that list events and offer information that you can use to raise awareness.

Workers’ Memorial Day 2017 Events Also, see OSHA’s event calendar.

More news and events at 28april.org

Facebook

Twitter at #wmd17

The Weekly Toll: Death in the Workplace

Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2017
This is the 26th year the AFL-CIO has produced an annual report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers.

The Dirty Dozen: National COSH Releases Report on Companies That Put Workers at Risk
In his post at Confined Space, Jordan Barab links to the report and says:

“Just in time for Workers Memorial Day, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has announced “The Dirty Dozen” employers of 2017, highlighting companies that put workers and communities at risk due to unsafe working conditions. National COSH chooses the “Dirty Dozen” by soliciting nominations from health and safety activists around the country.”

More on the history at Wikipedia: Workers Memorial Day

Fresh Health Wonk Review and other noteworthy news

Thursday, April 20th, 2017

It’s Health Wonk Review week and Brad Wright has a fresh, newsy, engaging issue posted over at Wright on Health, the Health Wonk Review: Who’s On First? Edition.

He grapples with health reform, alternative facts, and many other topics. To stay in the know in this dynamic climate, HWR is a great way to stay current on the changing landscape.

 

Here are a few other news items we’ve noted this week: 

In the “in case you missed it” department:

Quick takes

Worker Memorial Day and a voice for the workers

Wednesday, April 19th, 2017

April 28 is Workers’ Memorial Day, a time when workers and their families, labor unions and safety advocates commemorate workers who were killed on the job: 4,800 fatalities per year, or an average of 13 workers who lose their lives every day. The AFL-CIO dedicated the first Worker Memorial Day in 1970 as a day of remembrance for those who have been killed or suffered injuries/illnesses on the job. It also sheds light on the preventable nature of most workplace incidents with its theme of Remember the dead – Fight for the living.

When it comes to work fatalities, numbers don’t tell the whole story. Jordan Barab of the newly resurfaced Confined Space blog profiles some of these deaths in his Weekly Toll. It’s tough but important reading. Those of us who work in insurance can be focused on dollar and cents and lose touch with the real reason many of us entered the workers’ comp arena. And even the most dedicated number-crunchers among us see the wisdom that the least expensive claims are the ones that never happen.

Jordan’s blog focuses mainly on policy and political issues around worker safety, but he explains why he decided to pick up the grim task of compiling this list:

But ultimately, we’re only fighting the policy and political issues because working people are getting hurt and killed every day in the workplace, and more has to be done to stop the carnage. Today I resume a necessary — if depressing — task that I conducted every couple of weeks in the last version of Confined Space: The Weekly Toll, a list of every worker I could find that was killed in the workplace over the previous week or two. The main reason I started the original version of Confined Space in 2003 was that I realized that while a few workers killed in workplace incidents sometimes receive enormous media attention, most workers die alone and unnoticed by anyone except their immediate families and friends. Something had to be done to ensure that these thousands aren’t dying in vain.

Jordan has been a tireless voice for worker safety throughout his career. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009 to 2017. Prior to that, he worked for the House Education and Labor Committee, the Chemical Safety Board, the AFL-CIO, OSHA and AFSCME. His Confined Space blog was one of the early blogs that inspired us as we launched Workers Comp Insider. He put his blog on ice while working for OSHA, but he has recently relaunched it and is an important voice in looking to the health and safety of workers – particularly in an administration that has pledged to cut regulations and funding for many programs.

We have talked about and are concerned about the defunding and elimination of the Chemical Safety Board. The administration has also rolled back some important albeit controversial OSHA regulations and it is expected that OSHA will suffer further curtailment. Scott Schneider looks at some of the programs that are at risk and why they are important in OSHA Regulations: The Next Target

The President asked businesses and industries for advice on which regulations should be cut and he received 168 submissions from corporations and industry special interest groups.  Unfortunately, eliminating many of these are likely to have a corrosive effect on worker health and safety. Meanwhile, for the voice and interests of the worker and worker safety, Confined Space is an important read.

Freshly posted Health Wonk Review at InsureBlog

Friday, April 7th, 2017

Start your Friday with your morning beverage of choice and a fresh edition of Heath Wonk Review. Over at InsureBlog, Hank Stern has posted the Health Wonk Review: Pre-Passover edition. In his Twitter promo for this edition, he promises “Everything from horseradish to opioids” – you are probably not going to find too many insurance-related posts quite that eclectic!

In addition to wonks weighing in on RyanCare and the future of the ACA, other topics include opioids, physician burnout, the physician mission, price transparency, “the coding swindle” and more. Check it out!

We bring one post in particular to your attention – a post by HWR regular Brad Wright at his Wright on Health blog. He relates an up-close-and-personal encounter with the health care system, and reflects on his experience in the larger context of healthcare availability and accessibility.  Wonkery is all well and fine, but there is nothing quite like a personal testimonial to make a powerful impact. (Wishing you the best as you recover, Brad!)