The last time we encountered Clayton Osbon, he was strapped to a gurney after being forcibly removed from an airplane. Osbon was a Jet Blue pilot who had a psychotic break during a flight from New York to Las Vegas back in March. He randomly flipped switches in the cockpit, turned off the radio and told his co-pilot that “things just don’t matter.” When he left the cockpit to go to the bathroom, the co-pilot locked him out of the cabin, after which he ran up the aisles, shouting incoherently about religion and terrorists. The flight was diverted to Amarillo Texas, where Osbon was arrested and charged with interfering with a flight crew – his own, as he was crew leader.
The psychotic episode lasted about a week. After a July trial, Osbon was sent to a prison medical facility in North Carolina for evaluation. He apparently suffered another psychotic episode in prison – a significant event, as it demonstrated that his illness was not a one-time incident caused by the combination of sleep deprivation and substance abuse.
At a recent hearing in Amarillo, a forensic neuropsychiatirst testified that Osbon had experienced a “brief psychotic episode” brought on by lack of sleep. Osbon was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The medical records are sealed – as they should be – but the requirement that Osbon attend a treatment program for substance abuse makes it clear that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the incident. U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson has prohibited Osbon from boarding an airplane without the court’s permission; he and a Jet Blue colleague had to drive the 1,300 miles from Georgia to Amarillo for the hearing. The court has also ordered him to seek alternative employment, as his prospects for flying an aircraft are likely gone forever.
Living with Mental Illness
Given his age (49) and the court directive to find alternative employment, Osbon finds himself in the same position as injured workers in the comp system whose disabilities prevent them from returning to their original jobs. As a pilot, Osbon has a formidable set of transferable skills, which theoretically should make finding a new career relatively easy. It is likely, however, that his earnings capacity will be severely reduced. In addition, given the fragility of his current mental state, he may be months away from being able to function in a work environment.
In the course of a few days in March, Osbon went from being a skilled and productive member of society to a confused, fragile individual incapable of functioning in the world as we know it. He is fortunate to be supported by his family – often the sine qua non of survival for people with mental illness. In rebuilding his life, Osbon faces the burden of demonstrating to others – and to himself – that he can once again be sane, reliable and stable.
Osbon’s story embodies mystery – and agony – of mental illness. In his case, psychosis appears to have been triggered by a combination of sleep deprivation and substance abuse. But taking it one step further, perhaps the sleep deprivation and substance abuse were part of a desperate effort to mask and subdue a more primal turmoil in his mind. We only know the end result of that fierce inner struggle: a battle was lost, at least for the moment, and Osbon now faces a future where every gesture is scrutinized with fear and every day looms with uncertainty.
Formidable challenges now confront Osbon and those who support him: the search for a return to the simple joys of everyday life, where he can be comfortable in knowing who he is and what he needs to do. We can only wish him well.
Posts Tagged ‘safety violations’
Mental Illness in the Cockpit, Revisited
Tuesday, November 13th, 2012Missouri: The Roofer’s Conundrum
Tuesday, September 18th, 2012Five years ago we blogged Missouri’s tough-on-workers reforms that made it more difficult to collect benefits in the “show me” state. Among the provisions in the new law was a 20 to 50 percent reduction in indemnity for workers who are injured while wilfully ignoring the employer’s safety program.
Which brings us to Dennis Carver, a roofer who worked for Delta Innovative Services in Kansas City. Carver was carrying a 100-pound roll of composite weather barrier up a ladder – no easy task! – when he injured his back, resulting in a permanent total disability. The problem was that Delta had a safety policy that required three point contact with a ladder at all times: it would be physically impossible to carry a 100 pound roll and maintain three point contact. Because he violated the policy, Carver’s indemnity was cut in half, from $743 per week to $371.
Carver admitted that he went to work with the intent of violating the policy. He knew that instead of having the usual crew of 11 men on the job, the crew that day would total two people: himself as foreman and one other crew member working in a separate area. He knew full well that he was on his own. He also knew that company policy required that he use a hand pulley or power equipment – or request the assistance of a coworker – to lift materials to the top of a ladder.
Delta argued that Carver caused his own injury by failing to follow its “three-point” safety rule. Slam dunk for the employer? Here is the statute:
[w]here the injury is caused by the failure of the employee to use safety devices where provided by the employer, or from the employee’s failure to obey any reasonable rule adopted by the employer for the safety of employees, the compensation and death benefit provided for herein shall be reduced at least twenty-five but not more than fifty percent; provided, that it is shown that the employee had actual knowledge of the rule so adopted by the employer; and provided, further, that the employer had, prior to the injury, made a reasonable effort to cause his or her employees to use the safety device or devices and to obey or follow the rule so adopted for the safety of the employees.§ 287.120.5
“The burden of establishing any affirmative defense is on the employer․ In asserting any claim or defense based on a factual proposition, the party asserting such claim or defense must establish that such proposition is more likely to be true than not true.” § 287.808.
The Checklist
Thus the statute presents a checklist for reducing indemnity payments:
1. that the employer adopted a reasonable rule for the safety of employees; CHECK
2. that the injury was caused by the failure of the employee to obey the safety rule; CHECK
3. that the employee had actual knowledge of the rule; CHECK and
4. that prior to the injury the employer had made a reasonable effort to cause his or her employees to obey the safety rule. NOT SO FAST!
Theory and Practice
While Delta’s owner, Danny Boyle, testified that “[n]ormally our guys are trained ․ [that] the only thing that should be carried on a ladder is the person himself,” he then testified that employees routinely violated that rule:
Q. Does that mean nobody ever carries anything?
A. Not at all. Guys tend to do things wrong all the time.[emphasis added]
Q. And that’s what–
A. I’m just being truthful.
Q. Sure. It happens. It’s faster to carry it up sometimes?
A. Yes.
Q. Because you’re trying to finish a job and get something done, you may carry something up a ladder as opposed to using the beam?
A. Yes.
Q. Or the pulley?
A. Yes.
Even though Boyle was aware of multiple instances in which employees had failed to follow the three-point rule, he was unable to provide any testimony concerning discipline imposed on noncompliant employees. In other words, the policy was not enforced. And because it was not enforced, Delta must own the consequences of employees failing to follow it.
The Court of Appeals remanded this case back the workers comp commission, for a closer examination of whether there were grounds for reducing the indemnity payments. In all likelihood, Carver will collect the full indemnity.
Roofers at Risk
Boyle’s testimony that “guys tend to do things wrong all the time” reminds me of a telling moment in a training session some years ago. I was explaining the implications of implementing a drug testing program and the owner of a small roofing company responded: “I could never do that. Half my guys would fail.” [Need I add that, following the seminar, I alerted the underwriter to flag that account for non-renewal?]
Would it surprise you to learn that roofing is one of the most expensive job classes in workers comp? The rates can run as high as $50.00 per $100 of payroll and even higher. It is difficult, demanding work. In some respects, there is no such thing as a good day for a roofer: it’s either too hot, too cold, or too windy. The exposures are relentless and the work itself, especially on the commercial side with hot tar involved, can be noxious.
Owners of roofing companies like Danny Boyle are faced with a daily conundrum: do I enforce the rules and slow down the work? Do I discipline employees for violations or let the work flow, hazards be damned? In the course of normal employment, it’s tempting to ignore the finer points of safety. But that puts workers at risk for serious injuries – and owners at risk for footing substantial bills.
The “here’s a guy doing stupid things” safety photo genre
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011We stumbled on a photo feature of 11 Cringe-Worthy OSHA violations – and as advertised, the photos are mind-boggling horrific safety violations. Darwin awards waiting to happen. (In a similar vein, the Naval Safety Center Photo of the Week has been logging such violations for a long time now – 445 weeks, to be precise. )
We have mixed reactions to these photos. This genre of “people doing stupid things” photos and videos are immensely popular on the web – whether the stupid acts occur in the workplace or elsewhere. It’s the age-old slipping on a banana peel gag. Sometimes, their popularity can be attributed to simple schadenfreude. Sometimes, watching people do stupid things makes the viewer feel superior in a “ha, at least I am not that stupid” way. And sometimes, laughter is rooted in a whistling-by-the-graveyard coping mechanism. We see this frequently in police, firefighters, and other emergency workers, whose job-related black humor might be shocking to people outside the industry. We see this same type of black humor in a lot of safety professionals, too.
But while we’re as fascinated as the next person by these type of photos, we admit to being a bit humor challenged. Perhaps we’ve just seen the flesh and blood results of workplace injuries a little too often to find photos of this nature particularly funny. Astonishing? Yes. Cringe-worthy? Yes. Instructive? Often. Fascinating? Frequently. But rarely do we find them ha ha funny. Where some see idiots, we see untrained or inexperienced workers and horrible calamities waiting to happen.
The poster says she assumes that most of these violations are taking place in countries where OSHA doesn’t have jurisdiction. We don’t have any way of knowing where these photos actually did take place, but while that seems a fair assumption, we would caution about too much national superiority. For all we know, these workers could be offshore employees of U.S. firms. We are pretty sure that if U.S. workers were left to fend for themselves when it comes to workplace safety, we’d see some comparably “humorous ” pics. But, never underestimate some of the safety horrors that go on right here in OSHA-land. Here’s a recent example: Blogger Patcick McDonough points out a safety violation in Chicago.
Health Wonk Review and a news roundup
Thursday, January 20th, 2011It’s deja vu all over again at Managed Care Matters, where Joe Paduda hosts commentary on the rematch of the healthcare reform debate in this week’s Health Wonk Review: Repeal, replace, renew, revise, revisit – what the bloggers say. It’s a great issue with good contributions and diverse opinions on the matter. Check it out!
The skinny on fat – As a follow-on to my colleague’s post on the not-so-hidden-cost of obesity earlier in the week, we offer this visualization – the obesity map from the CDC, which shows the dramatic rise in obesity rates from 1985 through 2009. You can also see a state-by-state breakdown of obesity rates.
Underwriting front and center – Dan Reynolds of Risk & Insurance does a great job of outlining just how much of an underwriter’s nightmare workers comp has become and looking at how much worse it could get – and why. Chad Hemenway of PropertyCasualty360 (formerly known as National Underwriter) reports on a recent presentation by Insurance Information Institute’s Bob Hartwig who says that the industry is at a tipping point, and underwriting will be the driving force in profit or loss for 2011.
Horseplay ruling At Business Insurance, Roberto Ceniceros reports on a recent Virginia high court ruling which allocated benefits to a worker injured during horseplay. The injured employee was a victim, not the perpetrator, of the horseplay. “The state high court also relied on a theory of recovery, which has found that joking actions of co-workers are a risk of employment because humans are playful and from time to time engage in pranks, which can be dangerous.”
Aging & Workers Comp – Working Safer or Just Working Longer? – new study by California’s Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation. The report contains a lot of interesting information and notes that “Interestingly, despite the large increases in the fraction of workers 55+, the impact of the aging workforce on expected workers’ compensation costs is modest. Frequency and duration effects partially offset each other and older workers still represent a minority of all workers. The aging workforce will increase workers’ compensation costs only about 2% as of 2030 above the cost if the distribution of workers by age had remained the same as 2000.”
And about those seniors… – Jon Gelman posts about a push to put a cap on workers comp for federal workers based on age. According to Senator Susan Collins, “At the U.S. Postal Service, for example, 1,000 employees currently receiving federal workers’ compensation benefits are 80 years or older. Incredibly, 132 of these individuals are 90 and older and there are three who are 98.” Gelman’s post includes links to states and counties who are also looking at this issue.
OSHA – OSHA’s Top 10 Safety Violations for 2010 – In 2010 OSHA issued over 94,000 safety-related citations for violations. OSHA stated that nearly half of the total violations were accounted for by the top 10 safety violations.
