Oregon workers’ compensation costs to drop for ninth straight year
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced this week that in 2022, Oregon employers, on average, will pay less for workers’ compensation coverage, the ninth consecutive year of average decreases in the pure premium rate. On average, they will pay 97 cents per $100 of payroll for workers’ compensation costs, down from $1.02 in 2021, under the proposal by DCBS. Tillamook Headlight Herald
Former TSA officer sentenced for workers’ comp fraud
A 52-year-old South Carolina man who once served as a Transportation Security Administration officer has been sentenced to federal prison for stealing from a workers’ compensation program in connection with a knee injury he claimed he suffered while working at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2004. An investigation revealed that he was improperly receiving benefits due to actively working at three granite shops in the Myrtle Beach area from March 2009 through February 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. WMBF
9/11’s lessons for disaster response
The health outcomes that arose from exposure to the World Trade Center hazards have yielded important lessons for workplace safety and preparedness. For example, the CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration worked with many states and cities to distribute funding to improve communication systems, manage large influxes of patients and fatalities, track bed availability, evacuate healthcare facilities, and plan for evacuations and shelter-in-place situations, and coordinate with volunteers and first responders, among other goals. MedPage Today
Texas: Cassie Brown Appointed Commissioner of Insurance
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Cassie Brown as insurance commissioner for a term set to expire on February 1, 2023. Brown has served as commissioner of workers’ compensation since June 2018. Previously, she served as is deputy commissioner for regulatory policy at the Texas Department of Insurance. In addition, she served as a policy advisor to Governor Rick Perry. Office of the Texas Governor