Posts Tagged ‘food processing’

Health Wonk Review, RIMS, emergency responders, mysterious pork worker illness

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Daniel Goldberg has posted an excellent new edition of Health Wonk Review at his Medical Humanities Blog. This week’s roundup from the brainiacs of health wonkery encompasses everything from the usual health policy debates to alcopops, including a handful of posts on legal matters and new legislation.
RIMS – Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters has been blogging his observations from RIMS this past week. He’s posted news from the pharmacy sector, notes an emphasis on outcomes, and discusses innovation.
Emergency responders – In response to a recent reader inquiry about injury rates among police, we unearthed a 2004 Rand report on Emergency Responder Injuries and Fatalities focusing on U.S. firefighting, law enforcement, and emergency medical services personnel. While a little dated, it’s still worth a read. The report notes that while data for firefighter injuries are readily available, there are significant gaps in available data for police and EMT injuries. Line-of-duty fatalities are tracked, data on the frequency, type, and duration of injuries can be harder to come by. We’d welcome any pointers to data sources from readers.
Minnesota pork plant workers to be compensated – At least 18 workers at the Quality Pork Processors plant of Austin have come down with strange, debilitating neurological illnesses. Those affected worked at or near the “head table” where compressed air was used to blow brains out of pig skulls. The brain matter turned into a fine mist, and health authorities believe that the workers’ exposure to this mist led to progressive inflammatory neuropathy, or PIN. The workers were initially denied workers compensation, but at least one worker has been notified that her claim will be honored so it sounds as though the insurer rethought matters, perhaps in light of some pending lawsuits.
Workers compensation is relatively clear cut when it involves injuries, but illnesses can pose numerous complexities and employees bear the burden of proof for demonstrating the work relatedness of the illness. With many illnesses, such as cancer, there can be delayed onset and it is difficult to prove that work and not some outside factor was the precipitating cause. In this ghastly case, medical authorities are still puzzled but have observed cases of the illness among pork workers in other states, all of whom were engaged in similar work at the “head table.” All plants have now discontinued this practice.

News roundup: popcorn lung, medical tourism, health care matters, and more

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

Popcorn lung – We’ve previously taken OSHA to task for being slow off the mark in protecting workers who are at risk for severe respiratory illnesses related to exposure to microwave popcorn butter flavorings containing diacetyl. Now, while the agency continues to “seek evidence”, legislators have passed a diacetyl bill requiring the agency to issue an interim final standard to minimize worker exposure to diacetyl in popcorn and flavor manufacturing plants. In response, OSHA has scheduled public hearings and issued a Safety and Health Information Bulletin on Respiratory Disease Among Employees in Microwave Popcorn Processing Plants and Hazard Communication Guidance for diacetyl. But OSHA is still balking at issuing an emergency standard for diacetyl, falling back on its preferred voluntary compliance philosophy.
Medical tourism – David Williams of MedTripInfo.com has just released a white paper on medical tourism in conjunction with MedPharma Partners LLC, a health care and life sciences consulting firm: Medical Tourism: Implications for Participants in the US Health Care System (PDF). We’ve talked about the issue of medical tourism before – this is an issue to keep on your radar screen. David’s paper is worth a read. Among the predictions:

  • US health insurers will start to provide coverage for medical tourism in 2008. Mini-med plans and small employers -not big health plans and blue chip companies– will lead the way.
  • State governments will begin to embrace medical tourism by 2010.
  • Opposition to medical tourism by US physicians will be relatively modest.
  • Medical tourism won’t have a major, direct impact on US health care costs, but the secondary impact will be substantial.

40 years and counting – Congratulations to the folks at Business Insurance on their 40 Year Anniversary. We’ve long thought that the publication has some of the best reporters and editors in the industry – kudos to all. They’ve put together some interesting restropsective features from their 40-year history, some available online to nonsubscribers: 40 Years of Business Insurance.
Debunking viral health care spam – Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters does a great job debunking a viral e-mail from an anonymous concerned Canadian warning the U.S. about universal health care coverage. Moral of the story: never believe unsolicited emails and know your source.
McCain on Health care – Bob Laszewski of Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review offers an analysis of Senator John McCain’s Health Care Reform Plan. This follows last week’s analysis of the Clinton health care plan.
Immigration crackdown effects on the slaughterhouse – Thanks to Workplace Prof Blog for pointing us to a New York Times article we’d missed on how the immigration crackdown is affecting the work force in the slaughterhouse industry. Work in meat-packing industries is right up there in terms of grueling and dangerous jobs, and many plants are finding it difficult to replace undocumented workers who were displaced during recent immigrant raids.
Foot powerErgonomics in the News discusses a foot mouse / slipper mouse as an alternative when repetitive strain injuries preclude the use of a traditional mouse.

News roundup: Cavalcade of Risk, comments, lunch breaks, and quick takes

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006

Risk roundup – The second issue of Cavalcade of Risk is posted over at It’s Just Money. LA Money Guy is the host, and he’s assembled an eclectic array of posts ranging from drug caps to hurricane insurance. Check it out!
Comments – Our apologies if you’ve ever left a comment that didn’t get published here. When emptying several thousand spams from our spam trap this past weekend, we were dismayed to find about a dozen legitimate comments from you, our readers, that had been automatically routed to the spam file. Part of the reason we re-designed the site a few months ago was to incorporate a better comment filter – we get hundreds of trash comments each week, some quite vile. We thought things were working out quite nicely, but realize now that it’s been a little more aggressive than we intended. Our sincere apologies – we look forward to and appreciate your comments! We rescued about a dozen comments and rightfully restored them to the posts where they belong. We made further adjustments to the filter and hope that will do it, but we’ll be checking more carefully going forward so that we don’t lose any of your comments.
Lunch breaks – Are your employees covered by workers compensation when they are out of the office on a lunch break? Yes, according to a new ruling by the Maine Supreme Court as reported by Mark Hoffman in Business Insurance. In this case, the employee slipped on icy steps as she entered the building. The insurer contested the case on the basis of the going and coming rule, which holds that employees aren’t usually covered on their routes to and from work. However, courts often award compensation to workers who are injured in company parking lots or other areas in or around the workplace. (See our prior post on Exception to the “going and coming” rule: operating premises.) In this case, there was an additional twist: the employer was renting the office, and part of the rental contract stipulated that the landlord would keep the walkways clear of ice. Regardless, the employee’s injury would still be compensable. If the employer or insurer would like to try to recoup the costs from the third party through subrogation, that’s another matter. (Read the full court decision: Robyn D. Fournier v. Aetna, Inc., et al.)
Meatpacking hellConfined Space brings our attention to a recent series by Bob Herbert in the New York Times reporting on the brutal and dangerous working conditions at Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, North Carolina. Because these are subscription only articles, we’ll link to Jordan’s two posts: Where the workers come last and Walking Into The Pit Of Hell. (See also: Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants). Now the workers are taking their case for safety and basic worker rights the public.
Medical blogs – If you enjoy learning about emerging medical technologies, then Medgadget is the blog for you. There’s always some fascinating matter to be found. And for another interesting blog by a medical professional, check out the always fresh Emergiblog, a blog we found when Kim, a nurse who runs the blog, left a comment in one of our posts. Today, she kicks off the first edition of Change of Shift, a nursing blog carnival.
Quick takes