Quote of the day
"A lot of companies don't like to list first-aid injuries that don't result in any lost (work) time. But that information can help identify problem areas. Really good (safety) companies even list near misses. If you're not measuring it, how are you going to make improvements?"
Don Dressler, Irvine workers' compensation consultant
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http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/columns/article_1556553.php
O.C. Consultant Stresses Bottom Line Importance of Recordkeeping
An Orange County workers' compensation consultant describes the ways firms can make money using work-related injury logs, even if they are too small to be legally required to keep one. By Jan Norman, Orange County Register [With Photo]
Delaware’s Comp Bill Was a ‘Must-Do’ When Little Else Was Done
In Delaware, passage of workers’ compensation overhaul may make up for a typical January in which state legislators did not accomplish much. But that was enough for some lawmakers. By Drew Volturo, Delaware State News
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NFIB: Bill a ‘Shot in the Arm’ for Hawaii Small Businesses
NFIB, formerly the National Federation of Independent Businesses, praises a bill in the Hawaii Legislature to broaden a workers compensation insurance exemption to include limited liability companies. Pacific Business News (Hawaii)
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Ohio System Perpetuates Premium Disparities
Ohio’s state-sanctioned system that has allowed private third-party administrators to use Bureau of Workers’ Compensation premiums for their own benefit and that of their clients, has created a disparity in which about two-thirds of the state’s employers pay hundreds of millions of dollars more in premiums than they should to cover discounts for the other third. Moreover, it’s driving businesses from the state. By AP via Cincinnati Post
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Commentary: Jesse May Be Right, But for the Wrong Reason
Rev. Jesse Jackson may have a point in his criticism of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s decision to terminate the contracts of minority-owned fund management companies as it overhauls its investment strategy in the wake of a high-profile scandal, but the decision is more about money than race. Wheeling (W.V.) Intelligencer
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Empire State Unions Cite Weekly Benefit Max in Planned Protest
Blasting the system for paying out the lowest maximum weekly wage replacement benefit in the country, New York union members and supporters plan a lobbying effort in Albany next Tuesday to push for reform of the state’s workers’ compensation system. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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New York Firms Can’t Count on Accident Rate to Lower Premiums
New York employers cannot count on low or nonexistent serious injury rates to keep their workers’ compensation insurance rates from skyrocketing annually. What’s wrong with this picture? By Allan Drury, Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.)
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WorkCover to Cut Payouts in South Australia
South Australia employers already pay Australia’s highest WorkCover levies, and now the workers’ compensation insurer’s payouts likely will be cut in an effort to reduce hundreds of millions of dollars in liability of a scheme that its management admits is the nation’s worst-performing. By Paul Starick, Adelaide Advertiser
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Former Trooper Beats Fraud Charges
A judge rules that a retired New York state trooper is innocent of charges of illegally collecting more than $80,000 in workers’ comp benefits in a case his lawyer says never should have gone to trial. Times Herald Record (Hudson Valley, N.Y.)
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Manitoba WCB Funding Injury Prevention Programs
The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba is handing out nearly $848,000 (USD) to fund projects aimed at preventing workplace injuries and illnesses, including one targeting immigrant laborers. Winnipeg Sun
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