Archive for the ‘Tools & Resources’ Category

Government Shutdown Roundup, Week 2: Employment Law Issues, Worker Safety and more

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

In week two of the government shutdown, we see no promising signs that a solution is imminent. We’ve tracked news and events related to workers comp, health & safety and employment law issues. View our first Shutdown update here – let’s hope this is the last ion our series!)
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
After three recent mining fatalities, Ken Ward asks Can miners afford for MSHA to miss inspections?. While these deaths cannot be directly attributed to the shutdown, he explains the importance of inspections in protecting the lives of miners in light of the dangers of the mining industry and “the history of the industry’s refusal to comply with safety rules, and MSHA’s own weaknesses even when it’s at full staffing.” As Ward’s reporting has demonstrated numerous times, the industry is not one that sets a high bar for its own safety standards (a recent example)
He explains why MSHA has a dedicated mission:

Congress was concerned enough about these dangers that it set mining apart from other workplaces, and actually mandated periodic inspections of four times a year for underground mines and twice a year for surface mines. Other dangerous industries — whether oil and gas drilling, timbering, or construction — don’t have this mandate. Workers in those industries can go years without ever seeing an inspector from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

… and notes the historic effect of prior cutbacks in inspections:

Over the years, MSHA has had enough problems making its “twos and fours”, and has only recently began to build back up an inspection force that saw huge staffing and budget cuts that paved the way for a series of mining disasters, from Sago, Aracoma and Kentucky Darby, to Crandall Canyon and Upper Big Branch. And we’ve learned from repeated reports published only after mining disasters (see here, here and here) what can happen when MSHA isn’t on top of things in the nation’s mines.

Injured Workers
Attorney Jon Gelman discusses other untoward effects that the shutdown is having in the workers” comp arena in his post, Government Shutdown: Day 8 – Injured Workers Are Being Held for Ransom. He notes that:

“The Federal programs that adjudicate injured workers claims are closed. The State programs are beginning to feel the impact of the that lack of information flow from the collateral medical lien resolution process so resolution of claims are now stalled.

New Federal programs enacted under The SMART Act, to expedite the lien resolution programs have been halted in the public comment phases, and may face further delay in implementation and regulatory amendment.

The funding process for NIH grants to prevent and treat occupational disease and illnesses, as well as data collection and reporting, have been slowed if not stopped in their tracks.”

Employment Law Matters

Health & Safety Matters

Government Shutdown: Worker Health & Safety, Employment Law

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

It looks like the shutdown could extend beyond a few days so we’ve gathered information and resources, occupational health & safety edition. We’ll update as we find additional news and resources.

Government Shutdown Reduces OSHA Inspection Force by More Than 90 Percent
More than 90% of its inspectors are on furlough. “OSHA head David Michaels said in the plan that the agency must have enough staff to respond to workplace fatalities, catastrophes and situations posing imminent danger.”
Some states have their own state plans and these will remain open:
“OSHA has approved state plans in 25 states. Twenty-one of those states police occupational safety and health for all non-federal employees; four oversee public sector employees only.”
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation – 3 out of 20 employees will remain active, but there are no investigators to respond to emergencies.
The World Trade Center Health Program and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program can continue to operate because they draw from alternate funding sources.
Mine Safety (MSHA)
Ken Ward talks about the MSHA shutdown plans to furlough 1400 of 2355 employees nationwide. “The agency inspects and enforces safety rules at coal and other mines, writes health and safety regulations and reviews certain safety plans that need federal approval before operators can mine.” He discusses United Mine Worker Safety concerns, as well as
Employment services
John Hyman of Ohio Employer’s Law Blog discusses DOL, EEOC, eVerify, NLRB, IRS and other employment-related governmental services: How the government shutdown affects labor and employment law
Health Agencies
NIH, CDC feeling government shutdown’s effects
CBS News reports on the National Institute of Health, already reeling from $1.5 billion in sequester cuts, must now shut its “hospital of last resort” and must turn away some 200 people, about 30 of them children, who want to participate in experimental treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control has furloughed about 8,000 workers, who would track “outbreaks of diseases and hospital-acquired infections, foodborne illnesses and the 2013-2014 flu season.” A memo from the Department of Health and Human Services. says the CDC will be “unable to support the annual seasonal influenza program.”

Why isn’t there a workers’ comp app for that?

Monday, April 8th, 2013

In his recent column A Workers’ Comp App Store? in Risk & Insurance, our friend Peter Rousmaniere poses the question, “When will mobile devices be used to improve work safety and injury response?” He notes that Personal Lines insurers are taking the lead and cites a few examples. He goes on to offer thoughts and ideas for a workers’ comp mobile initiatives for this “ripe communication channel.”
It’s been about a year since we took the pulse of the workers comp mobile app scene here on Workers’ Comp Insider: Last April, we posted 72 apps for your workers comp, risk management & HR toolbox, and shortly before that, a roundup of risk-related and occupational gizmos & gadgets. (As with all older posts, some links may no longer work, but most appear valid.)
In doing a Google search, we found an excellent post by Michael Allen who apparently has already done some of the heavy lifting for us: Mobile health – 40 “apps” for your workers’ comp team. He lists a variety of apps ranging from workers’ comp medical guidelines, claims-related, medication management, physical therapy, patient education, and Health, Wellness and Comorbidity management apps. (By the way, we’ll be adding his great blog to our sidebar: Tech Talk for Workers’ Comp)
Besides the listings, he offers insight into how many CIOs are building app stores from which employees can download vetted apps. He links to a piece by Clint Boulton in the WSJ about the rise of corporate app stores. Boulton says such stores, “…ensure applications used by employees, particularly those that are using their own devices, meet the company’s security standards.”
So Peter is right on the money (as usual) with his “Workers” Comp App Store” reference.
A further Google search for “OSHA apps” turned up this listing of safety apps using the keyword OSHA; Another search for ADA apps brought these results. A little digging in the “about us” section of Canvas, the site hosting these listings, says that “Canvas makes it easy to publish data collection apps on wireless Smartphones and other mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, bar code scanning devices, and Netbooks.” Among other benefits and services, it also boasts, “Canvas also offers the first mobile business application store of its kind allowing business users to find mobile applications that work on a wide variety of mobile devices, with every application being customizable by Canvas users.”
So if you want to compile a list of trustworthy insurance, business, or workers comp apps for your workforce, this might be a good tool to work with.
Meanwhile, here’s a grab bag of a few workers’ comp or risk related apps we’ve bookmarked for just such a post as this:

Many of the apps we see are ghost towns – few reviews, little traction. Still, we applaud the pioneers for forging the way because in our experience, insurance as an industry is infamous for leading from behind when it comes to adaptation to new technologies.

Policy Wonks, Lend Me Your Ears!

Thursday, February 7th, 2013

The Insider is very much looking forward to the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) annual conference, taking place on February 27-28 in the virtual epicenter of wonkiness, Cambridge MA. There is always much food for thought in these annual gatherings of insurance execs, state officials, policy makers, attorneys, medical specialists, employers and safety/loss control practitioners.
This year’s agenda has zeroed in on the fundamental medicine-related conundrums facing workers comp systems across the country. All of us in workers comp long for insights into the following:
Unnecessary medical care and its impact on treatment guidelines. (Back surgery, anyone?)
Medical price regulation: what are the essential elements of an effective fee schedule? (Beware of the state where the doctors love comp…did someone mention “Connecticut”?)
The Opioid epidemic: treatment protocols involving the generous and prolonged distribution of opioids are destroying lives across the country. Why are so many doctors so clueless about the proper use of pain killers? Whatever happened to “do no harm”?
WCRI’s head honcho, Dr. Richard Victor, will host a discussion on health care policy involving (the presumably liberal) Howard Dean and (the assuredly conservative) Greg Judd. The dialogue might not equal the fireworks of July 4th on the Esplanade, but it might come close. The Insider will be listening closely for any indications of that rarest of phenomena: a common ground.
From Gorilla to ?
Last year, Dr. Victor concluded the conference with a discussion of the “gorilla in the room”: the enormous and perhaps insoluble problem of structural unemployment among the 20 million people who lost jobs in the recent recession. For many of these people, especially those in their 50s and 60s, there is little prospect of returning to jobs with anywhere near the same rate of pay as before. Many will find themselves lost in the new economy, cobbling together part-time employment without benefits, while struggling to hold onto housing where mortgages exceed the value of the home. Tough times and, so far, not much in the way of effective solutions.
This year Dr. Victor will have to find some other animal analogy to glean lessons from history: Giraffe in the closet? Rhino in the den? He tells us that the lesson might have something to do with the first century Ephesians, toward whom St. Paul addressed some rather famous snail mail. While some might find such a teaser a bit obscure and full of religious overtones, the Insider looks forward to the story. Indeed, we look forward to this year’s entire conference with great anticipation. There are few things better for policy wonks – our people! – than listening to the latest research from WCRI. Diligent note-taking will be in order.
If you count yourself among those with wonkish tendencies and you haven’t signed up yet, you’d best jump on it immediately. If you have any questions about the conference, contact Andrew Kenneally at WCRI: 617-661-9274.

Is your organization on the telework train?

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

With ice encrusting a huge segment of the nation today, it’s a good day to think about your organization’s stance on telework. Are your employees among the 20-30 million people who work at home one day of the week or more? That’s the most recent estimate from the Telework Research Network. They report that “Regular telecommuting grew by 73% between 2005 and 2011 compared to only 4.3% growth of the overall workforce (not including the self-employed).”
Telecommuting has a lot of benefits for employer and employee alike. A few of the benefits include:

  • Reduced traffic congestion, commuting time and costs – it’s an environment-friendly option
  • Risk management in addressing disruptive nuisances such as weather and seasonal flus that pose threats to employee health and safety
  • Enhanced business continuity in emergency situations resulting from more extreme and catastrophic events
  • Improved job satisfaction and morale for employees, and a tool to strengthen work/life balance and reduce stress
  • Expanded pool of available workers, offering more flexibility for workers with disabilities, older workers,and workers with dependent care or caregiver responsibilities

Carol Harnett wrote more about the benefits of flexibility in the wake of superstorm Sandy in her article Telework is Good for Business, which appeared in Human Resource Executive. She credits telework policies as being “the keys to keeping many organizations – and even the federal government – open for business before and after Sandy’s arrival.”
The government as an early adopter
More than 20% of eligible federal employees now telework, with telework defined as work that occurs as part of a regular schedule. There’s been a marked increase since President Obama signed the Telework Expansion Act of 2010. Roughly 21% of federal workers teleworked in 2011 compared to 10% teleworked in calendar year 2009. See the full report to Congress: Status of Telework in the Federal Government
Telework.gov is the official website of the federal government’s telework program. While the site pertains specifically to the federal work force, it provides an interesting case study and reference point for employers on issues of policy, practice, training and more.
Workers Comp & Telecommuting Resources
Telecommuting and -based work opens a lot of compensability issues should an injury occur so policies and procedures need to be thought out carefully in advance.One of the best articles on the topic that we’ve seen is John Stahl’s Mobile Workforce Issues: Home-based Employees and Traditional Workers Subject to Same Standards, which covered a session on the mobile Workforce at last November’s Workers’ Compensation & Disability Conference. Mark Noonan also has a good overview of some of the issues related to telecommuting and workers’ comp, including tips to avoid claims.
Additional resources
Safety Checklist for Telecommuters
Telecommuting: Are Employers Liable for Home Office Injuries?
Promoting safety among lone workers
Telework / Telecommuting – resources from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety
Five tips for successful telework
Technology tools for effective telework

Brainy Edition of Health Wonk Review & some new business blog suggestions

Thursday, August 16th, 2012

Dr. Jaan Sidorov has posted A Brainy Health Wonk Review on Health Reform, the Affordable Care Act and Lots More! at Disease Management Care Blog. Health Wonk Review is on an abbreviated summer schedule but the wonkers still have a lot to share and Jaan does a great job dishing it up – check it out.
Additions to our blogroll
From time to time, we update our blogroll with new blog finds – and we also clear out some of the less active blogs. It’s exciting to see such a thriving workers comp and insurance community online – back in 2003, when we started, it was a pretty lonely place! Check them all out under “Business Weblogs” in our right hand sidebar. We also have a variety of other useful tools if you haven’t checked them out yet!

Cool Tools: Heat Safety App for Outdoor Workers

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012

Will the extreme heat that has plagued the nation in June and July continue on through August? If so, there’s a tool that might provide some relief — and safety — for outdoor workers.
OSHA has a Heat Safety App that allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite and, based on the heat index, displays a risk level to outdoor workers. It combines heat index data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the user’s location to determine necessary protective measures.
Once a worker has determined the risk level, they can then access information about protective measures that should be taken for that risk level to prevent heat-related illness. These include reminders about drinking enough fluids, scheduling rest breaks, planning for and knowing what to do in an emergency, adjusting work operations, gradually building up the workload for new workers, training on heat illness signs and symptoms, and monitoring each other for signs and symptoms of heat-related illness.
osha-heat-app
The free app is available for iPhones, Androids, and Blackberrys in English and Spanish. Access other tools and information in OSHA’s Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers.
USA Today has a story on how businesses are adapting to extreme heat and drought. It includes mention of some new “personal cooling system” technologies such as CoolWare and Polar Products, which offers some “Body Cooling Systems.” We can’t personally vouch for any of these because we haven’t tried them – but there are still several weeks to summer yet!

72 apps for your workers comp, risk management & HR toolbox

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Here’s a grab bag of apps for health & safety, human resources, insurance news – and even for ADA job accommodations.
EH&S Apps for All SeasonsOccupational Health & Safety compiled apps that have particular relevance to safety, health, and environmental professionals – and risk managers too, we might add. These range from weather and traffic alerts to tools for chemical safety, first aid and emergency response.
Top 5 Risk Management Apps – apps for insurance terminology, insurance publications and a mobile flood map.
Apps for ADA AccommodationsHR Daily Adisor offers a variety of suggestions from the Job Accommodation Network for apps that address speech, hearing and visual impairment.
10 Apps That Can Save a Patient’s LifeEmergency Monthly scoured the MedGadget archives to compile the top 10 smartphone applications that can save a patient’s life … before they get to the emergency department. The 10 apps presented have been grouped into the four primary categories: workflow, emergency response, vitals, and diagnosis.
10 Mobile Apps That Promote SafetySocialTimes offers a roundup of apps covering emergency preparedness, driving safety, alerts, first aid, and medical diagnostics for communications between patients and physicians.
In HR? There’s an App for That – a roundup of apps from SHRM for recruiting, analytics, time-and-attendance tracking, performance feedback and more.

Risk roundup, and occupational gizmos & gadgets

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

It’s a pop quiz style risk roundup this week where you can match wits with the riskmeisters. The Notwithstanding Blog hosts the Cavalcade of Risk #149: Single Best Answer edition.
In other matters, we will use this week’s roundup here at Workers Comp Insider to highlight some useful gizmos and gadgets that have been accumulating in our bookmarks folder: a grab bag of work-related mobile apps and calculators that we hope you’ll find useful!
There’s an app for that
DOL data apps – Backed by prize money, last summer the Department of Labor issued an Occupational Employment Statistics challenge to developers to use DOL data in innovative, creative, and useful ways that would empower job seekers and consumers. Winning apps were recently announced – they include job trackers and occupational wage watchers – but our favorite is Eat Shop Sleep, an app that allows you to geographically shop for hotels and restaurants, and to narrow your results based on health and labor violations, as well as local reviews.
The DOL itself offers a few mobile apps – a labor statistics tool, a timesheet, and an OSHA heat safety tool. See the full menu of USA.gov features various mobile apps – a few that look particularly helpful include PTSD Coach, MedlinePlus Mobile, and U.S. Federal per-diem rates. And we can’t resist pointing out the MEanderthal, a Smithsonian app that allows you to upload a photo and morph into a neanderthal – not particularly work-related, unless you want to create an unusual portrait bulletin board for your work team. (See a fun video of MEanderthal in action).
Accessibility App – Another app development challenge sponsored by the Knight Foundation and the Federal Communications Commission yields a tool with great potential for people with disabilities. Access Together, is a crowd-sourced Foursquare-style app, which incorporates user information about accessibility of various locations. All answers will be saved and become part of a searchable dataset, map and open API to be used by people with and without disabilities.
Distracted DrivingDriveSafe.ly is a mobile application that reads text (SMS) messages and emails aloud in real time and automatically responds without drivers touching the mobile phone. DriveSafe.ly bills itself as “the solution to texting while driving.” It’s available in either a personal or a business/enterprise edition.
Calculators
Push Pull Carry Calculator – Canada’s WorkSafeBC is a great source of quality health and safety resources. Check out the Push Pull Carry Calculator, a tool designed to help prevent musculo-skeletal injuries.
Ergonomics Cost Benefit Calculator – The Puget Sound Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has developed an Ergonomics cost-benefit calculator that helps you to estimate ROI by comparing three intervention options that offer estimates of benefits and payback periods.
Diabetes cost – The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has created Diabetes Cost Calculator for Employers, an evidence-based tool that employers can use to estimate how much diabetes costs them and the potential savings that would result from better management of diabetes. In a similar vein, see Blueprint for health, a free web-based tool for making value-based decisions for health and productivity management. This tool was developed by the Health as Human Capital Foundation in collaboration with ACOEM, and the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH).
R.O.I.Wellness Return on Investment Calculators are designed to help you to estimate the effect that a good wellness programs can have on health care costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism. For another tool variation on the theme of wellness program ROI, see the Calculate your Savings.
The cost of doing nothingQuantifying the Cost of Physical Inactivity Calculator estimates the financial cost of physically inactive people to a particular community, city, state or business. The site also provides companion resources and information to re-allocate resources and plan for healthier workplaces and communities that are more supportive of physical activity.

Cool Tools: OSHA safety videos for construction

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Falls in Construction – Reroofing

In Spanish: Caidas en la Construccion/Reparacion del Techo
Sprains and Strains in Construction/Pulling Cables

In Spanish: Torceduras y Desgarres en la Construccion/Tendido de Cables
Struck-by Accidents in Construction/Swinging Cranes

In Spanish: Golpes Causados por Accidentes en Construccion/Gruas en Movimiento