Quote of the day
"There's a wholesale change at the management level, as well as the board level, with regard to Beacon's approach to DBR, and that's a good thing."
Bill Fischer, spokesman for Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., about the workers' comp insurer's dealings with the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation in its market-conduct review
Beacon Waives Privilege, Releases Evidence to Regulators
Rhode Island’s Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. signs a court order granting state regulators access to computer hard drives and a tape of company e-mails that have been locked in a court’s evidence vault, to facilitate their market-conduct review of the state’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer. By Lynn Arditi, Providence Journal
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Lone Star State’s Comp System Gets New Rules
In Texas, employers must notify existing employees and new hires of their workers’ compensation network options and post notice of network requirements at each work site, but new law states that employees do not have to comply with network requirements until they have received the company’s notice. Henderson Daily News
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Former Ohio BWC CFO to Cooperate with Prosecutors
As expected, former chief financial officer of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Terrence Gasper pleads guilty in federal court to taking bribes for business deals with the bureau’s $15 billion investment fund and agrees to work with prosecutors as they investigate the scandal. Meanwhile, an attorney representing the former administrator and CEO of the BWC says his client is not a target of investigators.
Go to the full story by Lisa A. Abraham, Akron Beacon Journal
Go to the full story by Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch
Commentary: Catching ‘Big Fish’ Should Not End the Expedition
Federal authorities have caught a “big fish” in Terrence Gasper, but that should not end their continuing probe into corruption at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The Intelligencer (Wheeling, W.V.)
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Mechanic’s Mistake Results in Massive Injuries, but Lessons Too
A Canadian mechanic who mistakenly assumed a tire he was inflating was too small for a safety cage has lessons to relate from the subsequent explosion that hurled him through the air and shattered his facial bones. He recently shared them as part of WorkSafeBC’s safety initiative targeting young workers. By Natasha Jones, Black Press via Chilliwack Progress
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Delaware Gov Pushes Comp Reform
A 70-page workers’ compensation reform bill is scheduled to be introduced this week. Democratic Gov. Ruth Ann Minner pledges to remain open to changes as it wends its way through the legislature. WGMD Newsradio (Lewes, Del.)
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Utah Looking into Public Safety Workers’ Cancer Claims
The Utah Labor Commission is using $500,000 designated by the state legislature over the next two years to study whether cancer and other diseases are a result of firefighters and police public safety employees’ working conditions, which would make them eligible for workers compensation benefits. By AP via KSL-TV/Newsradio (Salt Lake City)
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Survey of NHS Staff’s Sick Days Spurs Employers’ Response
British National Health Service staff take twice as many days off sick a year as private sector workers, according to a survey of health trusts in England, prompting an employers’ organization to launch a drive to reduce the number of staff on long-term sick leave. BBC News [With Photo] Go to the Full Story…
WCB to Probe Fatal Snowmobile Crash at BC Ski Resort
The British Columbia Workers’ Compensation Board is one of the agencies investigating a “freak” snowmobile accident that killed two Australian ski lift operators at Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. By Vera Devai, Tara Ravens and Robin Pash, Queensland Sunday Mail
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