Posts Tagged ‘disasters’

Chemical Safety Board on budget chopping block

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017

Photo: Chemical Safety Board

One of President Trump’s key campaign promises was to keep Americans safe, but apparently that promise should come with an asterisk. The news that the Chemical Safety Board is on the budget chopping block contradicts that promise – unless by “safe” we are only talking about threats from sources external to our borders.

The 40-employee Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is the only independent government agency that investigates industrial chemical disasters, issuing reports and safety recommendations to benefit industries throughout the nation. It issues no fines or penalties and makes no rules. Its investigations and reports also identify weaknesses in emergency planning and response that have preventative value not just for workers but also for the communities surrounding potentially hazardous work sites. Its annual budget of around $11 or 12 million is minuscule, particularly when measured against the enormous human and financial toll that a single chemical industrial disaster can inflict.

The Houston Chronicle doesn’t mince any words when talking about the impact of the agency’s demise: ‘Death and destruction’ expected as Trump moves to gut Chemical Safety Board

“A White House proposal to eliminate funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board signals a full retreat from two decades of progress against chemical disasters and would, if enacted, put American lives in jeopardy, health and safety experts said.

While little known to the masses, the CSB is to chemical disasters what the much better-funded National Transportation Safety Board is to airline crashes, train derailments and bridge collapses. Without the recommendations that come from these boards, preventable accidents repeat themselves.”

Texas is no stranger to chemical catastrophes. The CSB was instrumental in investigating the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery that killed 15 and the 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company that rocked the small town of West, Texas. That incident killed 5, injured more than 250 and damaged 150 buildings.

In Trump Budget Would Eliminate Chemical Safety Board, Jack Kaskey and Jennifer A. Dlouhy of Insurance Journal also highlight the important role that the CSB plays in investigating accidents, and offers several concrete examples of industry recommendations that enhanced safety practices in dangerous industries.

“The CSB makes no rules and issues no penalties, but often identifies dangerous industry practices that are overlooked by enforcement agencies. Its scope of responsibility has included multi-fatality disasters from a 2013 fertilizer distributor in West, Texas, to BP Plc’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blowout in 2010.

CSB probes have led to many industry improvements that have saved lives without gaining public notice, said Michael Wright, director of health, safety and environment for the United Steelworkers of America. After a 2012 fire at a Chevron Corp. refinery in Richmond, California, the CSB discovered that the pipe used was subject to corrosion and rupture because of the materials it carried. Though there were no rules against using that kind of pipe, the industry changed its practice because of the CSB, Wright said in a phone interview.”

The CSB issued this statement in response to news of the cuts:

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is disappointed to see the President’s budget proposal to eliminate the agency. The CSB is an independent agency whose sole mission is to investigate accidents in the chemical industry and to make recommendations to prevent future accidents and improve safety. For over 20 years, the CSB has conducted hundreds of investigations of high consequence chemical incidents, such as the Deepwater Horizon and West Fertilizer disasters. Our investigations and recommendations have had an enormous effect on improving public safety. Our recommendations have resulted in banned natural gas blows in Connecticut, an improved fire code in New York City, and increased public safety at oil and gas sites across the State of Mississippi. The CSB has been able to accomplish all of this with a small and limited budget. The American public is safer today as a result of the work of the dedicated and professional staff of the CSB. As this process moves forward, we hope that the important mission of this agency will be preserved.

 

Here are just a few other notable CSB investigations we recall:

Other commentary on the proposed elimination of CSB

 

 

BP disaster: 10 years and 58 refinery deaths later…

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

A decade after the BP Texas City explosion that killed 15 and injured 180, U.S. refineries are nearly as deadly as ever, according to Blood Lessons, an investigative journalism report by Houston Chronicle and Texas Tribune that looks at the aftermath of the tragedy at the facility itself and the industry at large. The report shows that serious risks remain unaddressed; survivors of the terrible event are distressed that even seemingly simple lessons haven’t been learned, such as locating flimsy break tents close to the refineries. The fatalities a decade ago largely occurred in just such temporary shelters.
In fact, it would appear that refineries are not a lot safer than they were then:

“No single refinery accident has matched Texas City’s devastation, but at least 58 people have died at American refineries since the BP blast, according to data compiled from Occupational Safety and Health Administration records, news accounts, lawsuits and union reports. There were at least 64 deaths in the 10 years before the accident.

The Department of Energy has tracked almost 350 fires at refineries in the past eight years – nearly one every week. There are about 140 refineries across the United States. Members of the United Steelworkers union like Ambrose have been out on strike, protesting at 15 locations. They’re worried, among other things, about safety, claiming that old refineries are routinely pushed far beyond safe operating limits, that fires occur too frequently and that trailers and tents remain in harm’s way.”

While OSHA stepped up inspections through a nationwide refinery emphasis program, it discontinued the highly labor-intensive program and lacks staff to enforce existing rules.

For other chapters in the report see:
Anatomy of a Disaster, which includes an animated video of what caused the BP explosion.
Survivors Remember, interviews and videos with survivors.
A deadly industry – Assembled data shows how and where refinery workers continue to die.

In other remembrances, Chemical Safety Board (CSB) Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso addresses the 10th Anniversary of the BP disaster in a brief video:

He faults organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of BP for the disaster, citing
a weak safety culture, a deficient process safety management program, and obsolete equipment. These problems have continued in the refinery industry in decade since. He cites two large incidents, one being the 2010 Tesoro blast that killed 7 workers in Anacortes, Washington.

The CSB notes that current federal and state regulations are not strong enough on preventive measures and say that more regulatory oversight is required to strengthen prevention.
Related: The extended CSB report on the BP investigation, issued about one year after the tragedy.

More charges in Upper Big Branch Mine disaster criminal probe

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

There’s breaking news in the ongoing criminal investigation into the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster that killed 29 miners in 2010. The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward Jr. reports that a mining manager has been charged with conspiracy. supervisor Gary May is charged with plotting “with others known and unknown” to provide advance warning of inspections, concealing violations, falsifying records, and taking steps to conceal actual work conditions. He is also charged with disabling a methane monitoring system a few months before the explosions.

May is the third person to be charged in the ongoing criminal investigation and is said to be cooperating with investigators. Ward reports that, “Next week, former Massey Energy security director Hughie Elbert Stover faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger after being convicted of lying to investigators and trying to destroy evidence about Massey’s practice of warning underground workers of impending government inspections.”

At his Coal Tattoo blog, Ward offers more context about May and the charges against him. Ward, other industry observers, and other media indicate that the way the charges are structured would seem to indicate that the investigators are looking to upper levels of the organization. It would seem that there are more shoes to drop in this sad saga.
For ongoing coverage of Massey’s UBB mine disaster, see Coal Tattoo / Upper Big Branch Disaster and the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster archives at The Charleston Gazette.

Annals of Compensability: Of Heroes, Acts of God, and (No) Mercy

Monday, October 24th, 2011

When the category 5 hurricane hit Joplin, Missouri on May 22 this year, Mark Lindquist was perched on a mattress which covered his clients, three mentally disabled adults. Lindquist, a social worker for Community Support Services, was following the tornado protocol in a town where basements are virtually non-existent. Unfortunately, the protocol proved utterly ineffective in the wake of 200 mile per hour winds. Lindquist was plucked from his perch and hurled a block away. He was impaled on debris, with every rib broken, his shoulder destroyed and most of his teeth knocked out. He was put into a coma for about two months, nearly dying from Zyomycosis, a rare fungal infection that killed 5 other victims. And to top things off, his three clients perished in the storm.
Lindquist’s survival is well beyond the expectations of his doctors. His right arm remains in a sling, but he has use of the hand. An eye that was temporarily blinded has full sight. He moves slowly and has short-term memory loss, but is able to speak clearly.
A Hole in the Safety Net?
Lindquist assumed that workers comp insurance would cover his medical costs (a whopping $2.5 million), pay for his 12 daily meds and provide indemnity for his lost wages. (As a low wage worker, Linquist could not afford health insurance.) His assumption of coverage has proved naive. He certainly was “in the course and scope of employment.” However, under Missouri law, Acts of God are only covered by workers comp if work exposes the individual to unusual risk. If, on the other hand, there was no greater risk for Lindquist than that facing the general public at the time of the tornado, the injury is not compensable. Lindquist was working – heroically – but the work itself did not cause the injuries. His claim has been denied.
End of story? Not quite. Certainly a case can and will be made that by lying on top of a mattress, in that particular location, Lindquist was more exposed to harm than the general public. He will be able to show that had he not been working, he might have been able to drive his van out of harm’s way. Given the high profile of his claim, he is likely to prevail at some point in the process.
It’s worth noting that of 132 comp claims filed in the tornado’s aftermath, only 8 have been denied. It may have been an Act of God, but somewhere along the line there will be an act of mercy to help a courageous worker rebuild his shattered life from the ground up.
Thanks to Mark Walls and his Workers Comp Analysis Group for the heads up on this story.

Remembering Katrina

Monday, August 30th, 2010

If you haven’t discovered the gem that is the Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” yet, you are missing a wonderful feature. Billed as “news stories in photographs” it is a themed news essay curated by Alan Taylor. From the BP oil disaster to the floods in Pakistan, the photos add a visual narrative to breaking stories of the day.
This past week, as in many media outlets, the focus was on Katrina. With a human toll of more than 1,800 dead and an economic toll exceeding $80 billion, the 5-year anniversary merits our attention.
For many of us, the anniversary is a look back, but for many of those who experienced it first hand, Katrina is a continuing nightmare. News reports point to ongoing health problems, from mental health issues to general health problems, such as skin infections and respiratory illnesses: “A recent study published in a special issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry found elevated concentrations of lead, arsenic and other toxic chemicals were present throughout New Orleans, particularly in the poorer areas of the city. It suggested that widespread cleanup efforts and demolition had stirred up airborne toxins known to cause adverse health effects.”
Many residents, particularly children, are still still experiencing severe emotional and psychological disturbances. The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health has been conducting studies on Gulf coast residents, and recently issued a white paper in coordination with the Children’s Health Fund:

“Together, these documents indicate that although considerable progress has been made in rebuilding the local economy and infrastructure, there is still an alarming level of psychological distress and housing instability. Investigators believe that housing and community instability and the uncertainty of recovery undermine family resilience and the emotional health of children. These factors characterize what researchers are calling a failed recovery for the Gulf region’s most vulnerable population: economically disadvantaged children whose families remain displaced.”

Looking back to look ahead
It’s no mystery why FEMA would designate September as National Preparedness Month. Between the man-made disaster of 9-11 and nature’s twin-wallop of Katrina and Rita, it’s certainly been a month fraught with peril, at least in terms of the last decade. In particular, FEMA is calling on businesses to be ready with disaster plans, and offers resources for that purpose.
A crisis by its very nature is unpredictable and random. But from a risk management point of view, it’s important for businesses to examine past events so that lessons learned can become part of planning for future crises with an eye to minimizing losses and disruption.
Perhaps one of the best articles we’ve seen on this theme is Crisis Management of Human Resources: Lessons From Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This article discusses the three phases of crisis management: planning and preparation; immediate event response; and post crisis, or recovery. It cites specific companies and the way they problem-solved aspects of the Katrina crisis, and points to the importance of putting some plans in place: having and circulating an alternative emergency communication systems plan; keeping contact information and next-of-kin data current; maintaining communications with employees during an emergency; having updated policies and procedures for compensation and benefit continuation; making resources such as EAP services available to employees; and having flexible and alternative work arrangements.

Engulfed by Risks

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

We are following the consequences of the gulf oil disaster with increasing despair. Images of oil soaked birds, dead fish, and the serene Gulf waters transformed from the customary beautiful blue-green to an appalling brown. Our thoughts also turn to the men and women laboring under very challenging conditions to contain the impact of this man-made disaster.
NIOSH has issued the following summary of the exposures facing the recovery workers:

Chemical exposures may include benzene and other volatile organic compounds, oil mist, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and diesel fumes. Physical hazards may include ergonomic hazards, excessive noise levels, sun exposure and heat stress. Injuries may occur due to slips, trips, and falls on slippery or uneven walking and working surfaces. Other safety hazards are associated with the use of tools, equipment, machinery, and vehicles. Biological hazards include possible exposure to biting or venomous insects or other animals. Psychological hazards may include witnessing traumatic injuries or death, inability to help affected wildlife, and fatigue.

You can read the CDC’s 96 page opus on managing the exposures to emergency workers here. (I can’t help but wonder if this particular web-available document is symbolically collecting dust on the shelf, like so many other well-intentioned but rather long-winded safety manuals – the ones risk managers point to with pride during a tour of an industrial plant.
“We’re Hiring!”
BP has hired about 22,000 workers to help with the clean up. I wonder how carefully they screened the new hires. Any rapid ramp up is full of risk; the hazards of hiring on this scale for jobs full of open-ended risk is simply beyond calculation. How many of the 22,000 workers will end up with work-related illnesses and injuries? How would you project the future impact on BP’s workers comp costs? (Perhaps BP is calling the new hires “independent contractors.” Some may well be; most are not.)
Under regulatory scrutiny, BP has provided some form of rudimentory training and the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) for the new workers. But how well is the work supervised? With temperatures routinely in the high 80s and the heat index over 100 degrees, how long can people function in the requisite protective suits, steel-toed boots, gloves, hard hats and safety glasses? What is the impact of raw crude on bare skin and laboring lungs?
Looming Epidemic?
There have already been reports of illnesses among these workers. Law firms have put out the word that at least one of the dispersants used in the clean up may harm workers:

OSHA representatives, Obama administration officials and others have expressed concerns that the oil dispersant chemical Corexit may be the source of the illnesses reported on May 26 by cleanup workers. In May, the EPA urged BP to stop using Corexit because of its toxicity. Corexit is manufactured by Nalco, whose board of directors has strong ties to the oil industry, including sharing at least one board member with BP.

We all feel a sense of urgency on an unprecedented scale as the pristine Gulf waters are sullied by millions of gallons of oil. A huge workforce has been mobilized to help with the clean up. Looming on the distant horizon is the cost of cleaning up the damage to those who are currently engaged in the clean up. It’s something we give only passing thought to today. But the time will come when those costs are as conspicuous and nearly as disturbing as the image of an oil-soaked pelican trying to spread its soiled wings, trying and failing to launch itself into the brilliant blue skies of its Gulf home.

Mining safety: not just for China

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

When the whistle blows each morning
And I walk down in this cold dark mine,
I say a prayer to my dear savior
Please let me see the sunshine one more day. A Miner’s Prayer

Our Google alert for safety today turned up the tragic story of 153 Chinese mine workers trapped underground in a flooded mine. China is a country that sees an annual miner death toll in the thousands:

“China’s mining industry is the world’s deadliest. Accidents killed “only” 2,631 coal miners last year, fewer than half the 6,995 deaths in 2002. However, many analysts doubt that the figures reflect reality, believing instead that many deaths simply go unreported.”

Here in the US, some retired miners might recall a day when our coal mining fatalities were up in the quadruple digits. We experienced more than one thousand annual coal mining fatalities through 1947. It wasn’t until after 1985 that fatalities dropped consistently from triple to double digits. Our worst disaster occurred in 1907, when 362 boys and men died in West Virginia’s Monongah Mine disaster after an underground explosion. In fact, the plethora of mining disasters with hundreds of fatalities were a backdrop leading to the establishment of better worker protections, including a workers compensation system. One can only hope the public will call for increasing safety and reforms in China mines.
For more on this story, we went to the best and most knowledgeable mining media source we know and it did not disappoint: Ken Ward’s Coal Tattoo has the latest coverage of the China tragedy, including an update which notes that warnings were ignored before mine flood. Ken reports on mining for the Charlotte Gazette. He and the people of West Virginia know quite a bit about mine disasters. Earlier this year, Ken reported that the nation experienced a record low in mining deaths last year – 34 – but he asks if that is enough. Good question. A little over a week ago, Ward reported that fewer than 1 in 10 U.S. mines have added improved communications and tracking equipment that could help miners escape an explosion or fire – a requirement after the MINER Act, a law that was prompted by a series of mining fatalities in 2006, including the Sago mine disaster.
Our sympathy goes out to the families of the China miners, who are suffering through a terrible vigil, the way so many other miners’ families have suffered. We can only hope that tragedy will serve as a catalyst to better safety advancements in China. And despite the progress we’ve made here in the U.S. over the years, we see by the recent report about the lackadaisical measures taken to protect our own miners, our memories are short.

Prior posts on mining
Cold comfort: Crandall Canyon survivors and workers comp
A bad way to make a living – links to interesting historical exhibits on mining
The sad, quiet death of Bud Morris – father, husband, motorcycle aficionado
The feds and Phantom Miners
Sago mining disaster and workers comp: newly formed insurer to pay benefits
Sago mining deaths: a sorry way to begin the new year

Haiti

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

As the world watches in horror and hopelessness, the people of Haiti are trying to extricate themselves from one of the great natural disasters of our lifetime. As I write, thousands of people are still alive, trapped beneath the rubble of what was once Port-Au-Prince. Very soon, most of these people will die, along with scores of the relatively unscathed who have no food, no water and no shelter. Faced with formidable logistical obstacles, the rescuers will not be able to reach most of the trapped people in time and the trickle of essential supplies may be too late for many others.
Our thoughts are with everyone who is suffering in this unimaginable disaster.
As the roads are cleared and supplies finally make their way into what is left of Haiti’s capital, rescuers will face enormous hazards. Unstable buildings may collapse at any moment. Further aftershocks are likely. Everyone in the devastated landscape is breathing air contaminated with toxins. There is even a danger of mob violence, as victims become increasingly frustrated by the lack of effective response.
Among the many issues that need confronting at this time, workers comp coverage for the rescuers is probably at the bottom of the list. Yet we know from the World Trade Center experience that many first responders will be exposed to life-threatening injury and illness in the coming days and weeks. Given the magnitude of human suffering in front of them, these responders are not about to raise the issue of their own disability coverage. But the day will come when the extent and nature of that protection is paramount, when the as-yet undiscussed benefits will be an absolute necessity for individual rescuers and their families.
We blogged recently about the personal risk management in which we all engage on a daily basis. We make our choices, moment to moment, in the expectation that nothing really bad will happen. If our luck holds, we live to face the micro challenges of another day.
For the poor people of Haiti and the brave souls trying desperately to help them, the time for micro management is over. The challenge of a lifetime confronts them with savage force. May all who suffer find peace and may all who are trying to alleviate the suffering return home safely.
Postscript
See a post at HR Web Cafe on Haiti earthquake resources, which includes links for:

  • Finding missing loved ones
  • Ways that you can help
  • Avoiding scams
  • News resources
  • Twitter feeds

Cavalcade of Risk and Katrina’s aftermath

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Jane Hiebert-White has a special edition of Cavalcade of Risk posted at Health Affairs Blog. In addition to the usual smörgåsbord, she has a special focus on examining risk two years after Katrina. She links to some excellent articles: one on risk analysis; another being a rather depressing account of the state of health care disaster preparation; and another discussing the ways that many of Katrina’s ills simply represent a super-sized version of problems facing the country as a whole, from health care and homelessness to infrastructure and crime.
Our thoughts have also been on Katrina. USA Today featured a report on the challenges facing small businesses, which we found quite interesting. Unsurprisingly, insurance tops the list of challenges facing businesses that are trying to put the pieces back together.

“Everything I sell goes to pay insurance,” says Harrison of Loretta’s Authentic Pralines. She’s paying $17,000 a year for insurance on the 3,000-square-foot candy warehouse, compared with less than half that amount before Katrina for coverage on the same space as well as a shop in the French Quarter. (The shop is closed while the building is renovated.)
Insurance costs were already high before Katrina, and many owners couldn’t afford to fully insure their business. “You buy what you can,” says Leah Chase, who owns Dooky Chase’s restaurant in Treme, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in New Orleans, with her husband, Edgar. “If you can’t pay $5,000 or $10,000 a month, you don’t buy it, because (the policy) will be canceled. You never think you’ll lose everything in one shot.”
Since the storm, more businesses — small and large — are underinsuring out of financial necessity, just hoping the next hurricane won’t wipe out their livelihood. In Gulfport, Miss., Jeffrey O’Keefe of Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Homes has one-eighth the coverage on his five funeral homes and a crematorium that he had before Katrina. Buying more, he says, would be a financial hardship. Even so, his overall premium has risen 45%, to $88,612 a year.

While there are certainly opportunities for some business sectors — banks and construction companies are booming — small family-owned businesses are among those that have been hardest hit. As they are in any community, these small businesses were the backbone of the community, and they greatly contributed to the particular character of New Orleans.

While nearly one in four businesses is ringing up more sales than before Katrina, almost half of small businesses have 75% or less revenue than before — even with fewer competitors, the council found. Overall, two of every three small-business owners — those with fewer than 25 employees — are bringing in lower revenue than before Katrina, its research shows.
“What this means,” Turner says, “is staff reductions, salary cuts, the inability (of businesses) to fulfill credit obligations.”Many common business practices need to be rethought in the wake of a disaster. For example, while many small businesses would have qualified for SBA grants or loans, they ran into a catch 22: they needed a home for collateral and many no longer had homes.
In another status update at the two year point, Insurance Journal reports that the majority of all Katrina claims – some $40.6 billion involving 1.7 million claims – have been paid. This compares to 790,000 claims in Hurricane Andrew, with a 2006 settlement value of about $22.2 billion. The article also notes that although litigated claims have been prominent in the news, the Insurance Information Institute estimates that fewer than two percent of homeowners claims in Louisiana and Mississippi were disputed either through mediation or litigation.

News roundup: Premium rates, ADA, disability awareness, OHIO privatization, and more

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

RIMS Benchmark Survey: downturn in commercial rates
Commercial insurance renewal premiums in the third quarter were down by more than 5% from rates in the same quarter last year, although the survey notes that workers comp was the only major line to drop by less than 5%, with an average reduction of 3.75%. However, for many respondents, the effects of hurricane season hadn’t yet been factored into prices.
ADA protects persons “associated with” the disabled
Diane Pfadenhauer discusses a less widely recognized provision of the Americans With Disabilities Act that extends legal protections to those individuals who are associated with a disabled person.
October is Disability Awareness Month
According to the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM), there are 33 million people in the United States with disabilities and the unemployment rate for this population is 44%. SHRM notes that many employers fear high costs associated with making accommodations for workers with disabilities, but 38% of employers have not had to spend any money on accommodations and an additional 17% have spent less than $500.
For a whole different outlook on disability, you may want to see a film called Murderball about a team of quadriplegic rugby players. Some time back, Larry King featured a very compelling interview with a few of the charismatic team members – what an inspiration!
Ohio: many oppose privatization of workers comp
Despite the recent investment scandals, it seems that many employers, attorneys, and unions are unified in opposition to the idea of privatizing the state workers’ compensation system. Ohio is one of a diminishing number of monopolistic states. The current Bureau of Workers Compensation system was established in 1995 with a nine-member Workers’ Compensation Oversight Commission. Since then, it has been credited with speeding up claims and reducing premiums by an average of more than 30%.
The Best-laid Disaster Plans Are Merely Works in Progress
Workforce features an article offering an overview of problems and issues that HR departments faced in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. The article profiles the experiences of three large employers – Entergy, Sodexho USA, and McDonalds – and some of the creative problem-solving that was required to locate and retain workers, communicate with workers despite the collapse of the communication infrastructure, arrange payments and administer benefit programs, and assist workers and their families in resolving various psycho-social issues.
12 picks for America’s Safest Companies of 2005
Occupational Hazards recognizes a dozen companies that set their own standards for safety excellence, exceeding OSHA and EPA regulations and industry norms. Safety efforts in these companies were generally characterized by high employee involvement and superior management commitment.
Insider View of the Vioxx trials in NJ
Robert Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams from Law.com’s arsenal of law bloggers offer first hand accounts from inside the courtroom at the VIOXX trial underway in New Jersey.
Also. from Legal Talk Network’s Workers Comp Matters:
Latex allergies in the workplace with Sandra Jutras, a career clinical nurse who developed a serious level one latex allergy; Attorney Jim Brady, and Dr. Gail Lenehan, national advocate and member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s Congress on Occupational Health and Safety.
Medicare set-aside allocations – Jean Feldman of CHOICE Medical Management discusses the complex issue of workers compensation Medicare set-aside allocations.
Making a difference
We can all sometimes get bogged down in the status quo and wonder if it’s still worth it to try to effect a change. It’s good to be reminded how one person can make an enormous difference – rest in peace, Rosa Parks. The LA Times has a wonderful tribute to this remarkable woman. (free registration required)