As states pass non-smoking laws, fewer service employees are exposed to customers’ second-hand smoke. But should companies be liable for their workers who still encounter it on the job? Some businesses are facing lawsuits.
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Tags: lawsuit, non-smoking laws, second-hand smoke
Employees across the country have a message for their co-workers during this H1N1 flu season: Don’t come in if you’re sick.
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Tags: H1N1 flu, stay home from work, swine flu
In some states, when workers are placed on permanent partial disability, it’s expected that injured employees will make a “good-faith effort” to find alternate employment they can perform. However, one state court just found a reason to overturn that 15-year precedent and allow a worker to keep collecting.
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Tags: back injury, good faith effort, permanent partial disability, sit home and collect comp
President Obama has signed an Executive Order banning 4.5 million employees from texting while driving.
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Tags: National Traffic Safety Administration, texting while driving, truckers
If one of your employees was injured in an exercise class, you wouldn’t expect that to be covered by workers’ comp. But that’s not how one court saw it.
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Tags: employee injured at gym, exercise class, Workers' comp
A diabetic employee can’t control his hypoglycemic episodes. In recent episodes, he’s become disoriented around dangerous equipment and threatened violence against co-workers. Can you fire him for safety reasons, or is he protected under disability law?
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Tags: Americans with Disabilities Act, diabetes, disability, fire worker for safety reasons, hypoglycemic episode
Workers’ comp boards and courts draw a fine line between what is and what isn’t a work-related injury that qualifies for benefits. See if you can guess how the court ruled in this case:
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Tags: climbing into truck, ruptured tendon, shipping yard, tractor trailer, Workers' comp
Imagine this: An employee, who happens to be morbidly obese, is injured at work. Doctors say, before he has surgery to correct the workplace injury, he needs weight-loss surgery.
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Tags: lap-band surgery, morbid obesity, weight-loss surgery, Workers' comp, workplace injury
A 30-minute video, made in a small town in Wales, was intended for local high school students to show them the dangers of texting and driving. But now, more than 1.5 million people have watched it on YouTube — and the general reaction by viewers is that they’ll never text and drive again.
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Tags: Gwent Wales police, texting and driving video, YouTube texting driving video
What do you do with employees who have a history of injuries? Fire them and they may sue, but leave them on the job and they might harm themselves or others.
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Tags: fitness for duty, history of injuries, safety-sensitive jobs
Have you ever fired someone for violating a company safety rule? In this case, a company did just that and then found itself in court on a charge of racial discrimination.
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Tags: fired for safety violation, Georgia-Pacific, racial discrimination
Imagine this: A company sponsors a Family Fun night of bowling for its employees and their families to improve morale. One employee injures his back while bowling. Does he get workers’ comp because this was an employer-sponsored event?
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Have you ever been suspicious of a workers’ comp claim? Be careful. A recent ruling appears to draw an important — and, in this case, extremely expensive — distinction between “reasonable” and what you might call “reflexive” suspicion.
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You hear it all the time: Sedentary, overweight and out-of-shape employees can be a huge drain when it comes to health insurance, workers’ comp and other costs. Whip ‘em into shape and you’ll save, save, save!
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Tags: court, decision, employee, exercise class, injury
You have clicked, and we have listened!
Enjoy the fruits of your Web surfing labor by taking a look at your top choices from 2009!
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New regulations; accidents with multiple fatalities; the President-elect’s take on what OSHA should be doing. What is the top safety story of 2008?
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Tags: new regulations, Obama, OSHA, top 10
A Texas drilling company will pay $16 million to the family of a woman who was killed when equipment fell off its tractor trailer and onto the victim’s SUV.
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Tags: big settlement, fatal truck crash, Pioneer Drilling Co.
A new federal court ruling further complicates whether you have to pay employees for the time they spend putting on and taking off safety gear. This recent ruling is a split decision for employers.
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Tags: donning and doffing PPE, pay for donning and doffing, putting on and taking off PPE
For the last eight years, OSHA has de-emphasized recordkeeping inspections. That’s about to change.
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Tags: ASSE, Hilda Solis, Jordan Barab, OSHA NEP, OSHA recordkeeping
Ever wish you could have someone translate an OSHA standard into plain English? You’re not alone.
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In the last two weeks, three undocumented workers have reached settlements totaling $3.85 million for workplace accidents in New York.
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Tags: employer financially responsible, illegal immigrants, injuries to undocumented workers
An employee helps a co-worker get a stuck bag of chips out of a workplace vending machine and in the process fractures his hip. Does he get workers’ comp or not?
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Tags: fractured hip, good Samaritan doctrine, personal comfort doctrine, snack machine, Workers' comp
While it didn’t cite Wal-Mart for a violation of a specific standard, OSHA has used its General Duty Clause to fine the retailer in the trampling death of a worker last November.
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Tags: OSHA General Duty Clause, Wal-Mart fined, Wal-Mart worker crushed to death
Imagine this: Two of your employees who work together both get little sleep before performing a safety-sensitive task. Then, the two are involved in an incident that kills 50 people.
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Tags: Continental Flight 3407, NTSB investigation, too tired to work safely
A company had banned its employees from talking or texting on cell phones while working for safety reasons. Now it’s taking the cell phone ban one step further.
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Tags: cell phone policies, talking on cell phones while working, texting
California authorities have made massive allegations of workers’ comp fraud against an employer.
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Tags: insurance premiums, Petronella Roofing, workers' comp fraud
Slips, trips and falls are routinely one of the top causes of injuries in workplaces. They also subtract from a company’s bottom line due to medical and workers’ comp insurance, lost productivity and retraining costs.
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Tags: ASSE, flooring, slip, top causes of injury in workplace, trip and fall prevention
No question about this: Workers’ Compensation covers medical treatment for employees injured on the job. However, does a home security system qualify as medical treatment?
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Tags: anxiety, home security system, insomnia, traumatic brain injury, Workers' comp
Blanket policies barring employees on light or limited duty from working overtime violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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Tags: Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, light duty, overtime, United Airlines
Not only is this a bizarre OSHA fine, it could set a dangerous precedent. The agency has fined a company for an employee’s fatal injury that happened while he was away from his home office on assignment.
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Tags: bizarre OSHA fine, Buffalo All High Stadium, Buffalo News
Which types of on-the-job injuries cause employees to miss the most time from work?
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Tags: costly workplace injuries, disabling workplace injuries, top 10 injuries
What constitutes loss of use of feet and hands to qualify for permanent disability? A state court says it’s not necessary for employees to actually injure their feet or hands for that to be the case.
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Tags: hip injury, permanent disability payments, shoulder injury, slip and fall, workers' compensation
Who has more work during the down economy? A lawyer who represents people injured on the job expects he may be getting more work.
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Tags: cutting corners with safety, Workers' comp, workplace injuries
Employees who complain about workplace safety and then are fired can successfully sue to get their jobs back, along with back pay and benefits. But is an unlanded punch from a co-worker enough to make a workplace unsafe?
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Tags: assault, violent co-workers, workplace violence, wrongful discharge
Just how tricky is it to use tests to weed out injury-prone workers without getting dragged into court for alleged discrimination? Statistics from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission spell it out.
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Tags: best practices, disparate impact, EEOC, injury-prone workers, pre-employment tests
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