Quote of the day
“Everybody’s bad at this, and nobody’s gotten better at it. The problem is that 99.9 percent of employers in the United States of America … don’t recognize it, don’t understand it — and have never heard of it.”
Bo Mitchell, former Wilton, Connecticut police chief, preparations to keep employees safe during active shooter events
Texas: Parker County employers earn TMI’s top honor
Texas Mutual Insurance Company last week announced that two employers in Parker County have been awarded the company’s top honor for workplace safety. To qualify, a company must demonstrate implementation of an exemplary safety program and control of workers’ compensation losses. Weatherford Democrat
Consultant: ‘Work hardening’ can expedite return to work
Eric Messer, a construction-industry business and risk consultant, argues that “work hardening,” which provides employees with advanced vocational or psychological assistance, or rehabilitation, can help return an injured employee to the job quickly. Here are the phases of an effective work-hardening program. Daily Reporter (Milwaukee)
Few Connecticut businesses plan response to active shooters
As El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, joined the list of places that have suffered mass shootings, several workshops have been held this year in Connecticut on the topic of dealing with active shooters. But security experts say the most obvious forum for such preparations, the workplace, remains largely quiet on the topic. Register-Citizen (Torrington, Conn.)
Canada: New commissioners expected to ease workers’ comp appeal backlog in N&L
Injured workers in Newfoundland and Labrador who want to appeal decisions about their cases are currently facing a one-year wait for a process that, by law, is supposed to take just 60 days, worse than it was five years ago when a government official promised to address the issue. Earlier this year, however, the province appointed three new full-time commissioners in order to reduce the waitlist and delay. CBC
Study: Emergency medical responders at higher injury risk than all other U.S. professions
A recent study by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has found that emergency medical technicians and paramedics are at a higher risk of injury—particularly, back injuries or sprains because of the bending, kneeling and lifting required on the job—than all other professions in the U.S. Around nine out of 100 EMTs and paramedics sustain an occupational injury compared to two out of 100 workers in other professions. In addition, assaults are reported 22 times higher for EMS personnel than for workers in other professions. NECN [with video]