OSHA fines over one-million dollars have become more common. But here’s one with a twist: It’s not for workplace hazards — it’s for recordkeeping violations.
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Tags: million-dollar fine, national emphasis program, Recordkeeping
A worker uses questionable judgment while using heavy equipment. He’s seriously injured, and a test shows he used illegal drugs. The employee applies for workers’ comp. Does he get benefits?
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Tags: heavy equipment, impaired, marijuana, workers' compensation
The head of OSHA says after 40 years, the agency needs a fundamental transformation in the way it addresses workplace hazards, and its relationship to employers and workers. David Michaels says it’s time for OSHA to “take a different road.”
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Tags: David Michaels, future of OSHA, OSHA at 40
An employee engaged in unsafe horseplay at work. He got warnings, including a final one, but was caught once again on videotape. He was fired, and the case eventually went to court.
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Tags: final warning, horseplay, Wal-Mart
An employee injures her knee just by walking up stairs at work and applies for workers’ comp benefits.
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Tags: accident, knee injury, walking up stairs, work-related injury, Workers' comp
Haven’t been inspected by OSHA, or, at least not recently?
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Tags: OSHA Field Operations Manual, OSHA inspections, OSHA inspectors
When no one witnesses a workplace injury and the injured employee files for workers’ comp, sometimes all you have to go on is the worker’s story. The situation can become more complicated when the worker delays reporting the injury.
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Tags: back injury, credibility, no one saw injury, Workers' comp
A worker slipped and fell, and sustained multiple injuries including one to her back. While the worker was still healing, she lost her job in a mass layoff. Does she still get comp payments?
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Tags: back injury, laid off, temporary partial disability, Workers' comp
The New York Times reports that Wal-Mart has spent $2 million so far fighting a $7,000 OSHA fine in connection with the trampling death of a worker. Equally interesting is that OSHA has also devoted lots of resources to make sure this fine sticks. Why? Because the outcome of this case could have wide reaching effects on all sorts of companies.
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For most employees, turning around isn’t dangerous. But for a nurse in Mississippi, that simple act resulted in a broken leg, a protracted court battle, and ultimately, a sizable workers’ comp award.
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Tags: injury, Workers' comp
A company decided to take back a conditional offer of employment after it found the applicant was a recovering drug addict. A lawsuit followed.
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Tags: conditional offer of employment, drug test, drug treatment, methadone, safety threat
You’ve probably heard lots of “rules of thumb” about workplace safety. But are they really true? This article will look at three of them.
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Tags: indirect costs, noise, rules of thumb, truisms, unsafe human acts
When workers don’t report injuries right away and then apply for workers’ comp benefits, it often raises a red flag. With conflicting testimony, these cases often come down to which side the court finds more believable.
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Tags: back injury, delayed injury report, injured back when lifting, workers' comp benefits
The cries for less government have become more frequent these days, including in reader comments on this website when OSHA ramps up enforcement or rulemaking. One frequent argument is that OSHA’s regulations hurt the U.S. economy.
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Tags: less government, OSHA hurts U.S. economy, OSHA ramps up enforcement
How do you know that the worker who claims to have been injured on the job isn’t committing workers’ comp fraud?
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A worker at a bear park smoked pot before coming to work where he fed grizzlies. The worker was seriously injured by one of the bears. A workers’ compensation judge called that “mind-bogglingly stupid.” But did the judge rule the worker was entitled to workers’ comp?
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Tags: marijuana, mauled by grizzly, pot smoking, Workers' comp
For purposes of workers’ comp benefits, just what constitutes an injury “arising out of and in the course of employment”? A court recently issued an interesting interpretation of that phrase.
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Tags: broken leg, in the course of employment, off the clock, workers' comp benefits
What types of workplace noise do you think of in connection with occupational hearing loss? Jack hammers, lawn tractors, manufacturing assembly lines? In this case, a worker claims hearing loss from being yelled at on the phone by angry customers.
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Marijuana is now legal as a prescription painkiller in 14 states. But what if you have a drug-free-workplace policy?
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Tags: drug-free workplace, medical marijuana, prescription painkiller
It’s a fact: Dust, temperature and humidity factor into asthma attacks. But how can you tell if asthma is an ongoing disability?
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Tags: asthma, dust, permanent disability, temperature and humidity
A company required a female employee to take a physical strength test before returning to work after an injury. Was it a valid test of the employee’s ability to perform her job safely, or was it gender discrimination?
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Tags: ankle injury, gender discrimination, physical ability test, return to work, truck driver
Recently, we wrote about a survey that put “safety” as the No. 6 most annoying thing in the workplace. So, we asked you what is most annoying about workers when it comes to safety. Here are your answers:
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Tags: annoying worker habits, common complaints, excuses, no time for safety, we always did it that way
Safety videos without blood: Will they work?
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Tags: Before it's an injury, blood, safety videos
Ranking right up there with poor restroom etiquette and people not showing up for meetings, it turns out some workers find safety … annoying.
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Tags: annoyances, too much safety, Top-10 list, vending machine, wellness program
“Unscrupulous employers often consider it more cost effective to pay the minimal OSHA penalty and continue to operate an unsafe workplace than to correct the underlying health and safety problem. The current penalties do not provide an adequate deterrent.”
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Tags: David Michaels, death of an employee, OSHA penalty, prison time, Protecting America's Workers Act
An employee was injured at work. At first his injury seemed minor. But as time passed, his condition grew more serious. He didn’t tell his employer about the incident until he needed to see a medical specialist.
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Tags: open wound, report injuries, Workers' comp
If doctors declare an injured worker totally disabled, what happens if he looks for work while he’s waiting to see if he gets workers’ comp benefits?
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One of those so-called reality shows takes too cavalier an attitude about safety, according to a blogger in the general media. If that’s the case, we want to take the issue one step further: Do the media’s messages harm attempts to increase workplace safety?
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Tags: disregard for safety, people getting hurt, reality shows, Survivor, tough-guy attitude
In the first year of the Obama administration, OSHA was busy handing out fines the likes of which hadn’t been seen for eight years. Here’s our rundown of 10 significant fines from the last 12 months, and what they mean for businesses:
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Tags: BP, Obama administration, OSHA fines, prison time, top 10
Imagine this: A worker has surgery to insert metal plates and screws to repair damaged discs in his neck. He says his injury happened at work … when he sneezed.
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Tags: neck injury, sneeze, surgery, Workers' comp
Workers’ comp laws usually prohibit lawsuits against companies when a worker is seriously injured or killed on the job. But a lawyer in Texas found a way to skirt the law and win a huge jury award.
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Tags: crane, jury award, worker killed, Workers' comp
A sanitation employee, who was preparing to urinate while standing on a platform on the back of a garbage truck, fell off the truck as it was backing up. He was killed after the truck backed over him. His family is seeking workers’ comp benefits because of a modification made to the truck.
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Tags: garbage truck, intentional wrong exception, truck backed over him, workers' compensation
Criminal prosecution of companies where safety violations cause serious injuries or fatalities are rare in the U.S. With that in mind, it’s interesting to note how such cases are handled in another democracy.
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Tags: Australia, criminal prosecution, serious injury or death
A worker tests positive for PCP right after he’s injured. Is he still able to collect workers’ comp benefits?
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Tags: drug use, injured worker, lifting injury, Workers' comp
Workers’ comp laws in some states do contain provisions to discourage employees from trying to cheat the system. Here’s one example:
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Tags: cheat the system, New York, Workers' comp
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