Posts Tagged ‘Katrina’

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.

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)

Katrina

Thursday, September 1st, 2005

With my mind reeling from images of devastation in the aftermath of Katrina, I try to focus for a moment just on the implications for workers compensation. The hurricane hit on a weekend, so most people were not working. But some were — working for companies that may have been obliterated: no payroll records, no employment records, nothing left. How would you prove that you were an employee? How can you file a claim when the entire apparatus governing workers compensation has disintegrated?
We tell employees that the first step in managing injuries is to report to your supervisor and then secure appropriate medical treatment. In all this chaos, how can I possibly find my supervisor? How can I secure medical treatment when the hospitals are on the verge of collapse, their generators running out of gas, their harried personnel stretched to the limit? I hope I don’t need an ambulance, because there aren’t any — there aren’t any roads, for that matter. There is no way for the medical provider to verify insurance coverage or talk to my employer. When I list my home address, does it matter if the building has been lifted off the foundation and collapsed on a lot three blocks north?
Old Cases are History
What happens to the hundreds of cases in litigation prior to the hurricane? From law offices to government offices, the files will be inaccessible for months and may have been destroyed. The people familiar with the details are living in distant cities or have disappeared altogether. Indeed, the claimants themselves may or may not be alive to pursue their day in court. Are the key witnesses still alive and if so, how can we possibly find them? What happens to statutory time limits when the courts are under water?
Unacceptable Risks
We can assume that many of the rescue workers are employed. They may be covered by workers comp. They face ubiquitous and unprecedented exposures: fetid water covering everything; bodies floating along with oil, excrement and chemicals; no running water or toilets; a simmering rage among the desparate people they are trying to help. Toxic mold will be a constant risk in the coming months. If you follow the general duty of clause of OSHA literally — as we are all supposed to do — you cannot allow anyone to work, because under these horrendous conditions there is absolutely no way you can provide a safe workplace.
Our World = Third World
It is eerie to watch these third world images of despair and dysfunction rolling out in our own country. It’s something we are used to seeing in remote corners of the world, not on our own shores. But this is all too real: the total disintegration of civil society, the uselessness of the usual management “best practices.” This is a crisis where the most rudimentary needs — food, clothing, water and shelter — cannot be provided. Between the Christmas tsunami and Katrina, two things have become all too clear: when confronted with the full brunt of nature’s power, we are defenseless against the blow and pitifully ineffective in response. Let’s keep that in mind when we position our species — and our country — in the forefront of all things civilized.

Rescue worker health & safety resources; disaster coverage

Tuesday, August 30th, 2005

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. In watching CNN last night, I was struck by the bravery of the police, firefighters, and volunteers who put themselves in harm’s way to rescue survivors. Health care workers are also doing an amazing job under terrible circumstances: staffing flooded hospitals, tending to refugees in the Superdome, and relocating elderly nursing home residents.
The disaster recovery is boggling in scope, and we will no doubt address it further. For now, here are some health and safety resources for rescue workers:
Worker safety after a flood
Worker Safety in a Power Outage
Emergency Response Resources for Workers
Response, Cleanup and Safety for Workers
The above links were found via Poynter. The Poynter Institute is a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists. The website is often a good source of information for large, breaking news stories. In addition to the above links, they also have an extensive list of links to post-disaster health and safety resources for civilians and workers alike. It seems like a good time to give these resources wider circulation.
Online news coverage
In addition to the national media outlets, here are some online resources to local coverage.
NOLA – Breaking News from the Times Picayune
The Irish Trojan – a New Orleans area blogger who is posting frequent updates
Today’s Times Picayune – special online edition in pdf
Large graphic of the New Orleans levee system
Some of the following links to online TV resources can be slow loading due to demand.
WLOX – streaming video from Biloxi, MS
WJTV – online video from Jackson, MS
WPMI – online video from Mobile. AL
WLTV – online streaming video (embedded) from New Orleans
Joe Paduda has a post on Katrina’s impact on insurance costs in which he links to several articles and offers good commentary.