Andrew Sprung has the most recent compendium from the health wonks at xpostfactoid:
Late Days of Empire Edition: Health Wonk Review. The wonks’ entries are reflecting the healthcare market chaos of the times – check it out! Also note that two weeks from today, we’ll be hosting the next edition here at Workers Comp Insider!
Other workers comp news of note along with general interest items that caught our attention:
Net neutrality & why you should care: If you are a blog afcianado – or if you just like a free an open internet, please make your voice heard about net neutraility. Don’t let the internet service providers do to the internet what cable companies did to TV – make your voice heard in favor of Net Neutrality which is at serious risk or being rescinded. See RIP net neutrality: FCC chair releases plan to deregulate ISPs. This requires immediate action: the vote is December 14. Make your voice heard.
Purdue Pharma: In this weeks’s HWR, Joe Paduda talks about how Purdue Pharma is trying to limit legal liability in the many state suits. Related, there was an excellent recent article in Esquire by Christopher Glazek that is well worth a read: The Secretive Family Making Billions From the Opioid Crisis.
Blankenship for Senate? – Convicted coal baron Don Blankenship announced his intention to challenge Joe Manchin for a senate seat in West Virginia. We’re talking about Don Blankenship who was CEO of Massey Energy Co. at the time of a 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster that killed 29 miners. We have opinions on Blankenship that we’ve expressed over the years. Hint: thumbs down for the senate.
Grain Bin deaths: Over $1.8 Million in Proposed Fines Following Fatal Grain Dust Explosion – OSHA has proposed $1,837,861 in fines against Didion Milling Inc. following a May 2017 grain dust explosion that killed five workers and injured 12 others, including a 21-year-old employee who suffered a double leg amputation after being crushed by a railcar. We hope the fine will stick – see our prior post Walking down the grain – and the fines.
Gripping read: Atul Gawande’s twitter pointed us to a remarkable story in Emergency Physician’s Monthly: How One Las Vegas ED Saved Hundreds of Lives After the Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History. Hats off to the incredible medical teams!
Nail salons: US nail salons: the challenge to protect workers from toxic chemicals – Critics mock an EPA scheme to create ‘healthy salons’, but Julia Carrie Wong hears how it is tackling an ‘epidemic’ of health problems from staff, many of whom are Vietnamese immigrants.
Jennifer Christian posts Avoid “one-size-fits-all” thinking in evidence-based medicine, which challenges a blind spot in current thinking – worth a read. From our vantage, Dr. C is always in the forefront of new occ med thinking.
Bionic safety? medGadget has news that Ford is trialing the Exoskeleton to help prevent worker injuries. The device is made by Ekso, a company that devlops full-body exoskeletons for paralyzed people, but the firm thins the technology can prevent injuries in workers who perform physically difficult repeat tasks, such as operating the overhead machinery.
More news – quick links
- Hurricane Recovery Workers Face Safety, Health and Wage Problems According to Report
- Regular painkillers work as well as opioids for sprains, strains and fractures
- As Health Care Changes, Insurers, Hospitals and Drugstores Team Up
- Workers’ Compensation Still Under Pressure from Drug Repackagers, Compounding Pharmacies
- Got Milk?
- You Have a Work Comp Dental Injury…Pre-Existing Versus Related
- BLS releases Employer-reported workplace injuries & illnesses for 2016
- Should company pay for vocational rehab as part of workers’ comp benefits?
- States That ‘Went All-In’ On Health Law Have Half As Many Uninsured As Those That Didn’t
- WCRI Conference Session: Impact of Opioids & Prescription Drugs on the Workplace
- WCRI Study: FL Medical Payments per Workers’ Comp Claim Stabilized After Years of Moderate Growth
- The FCBI Fund Celebrates 40 Years of Protecting Florida Workers
- Undocumented, and Unprotected? DC Sees Lack of Work Comp Cases for Illegal Immigrants
- Insurance coverage for opioid litigation
- ADA lawsuit: Can you force an unstable employee to see a doctor?
- How should HR deal with #MeToo harassment issues in the workplace?
- EHS’s 2017 America’s Safest Companies
- 6 Risks for the Construction Industry
- Working in retail this holiday season? NIOSH has information to help keep you safe & healthy
- 7 Ways People Woke Up, Pre-Alarm Clock
