Quote of the day
"Is it a record or operational information? If it's a record we should have it."
Ken Hoar, acting assistant manager for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, about the reported destruction of safety meeting minutes, accident logs and other records at the Nevada Test Site nuclear proving grounds
Nuke Test Site Safety Records Destroyed, Former Clerk Says
A former clerk who spent 25 years cataloging toxic materials reports, personnel rosters, safety meeting minutes and accident logs at the Nevada Test Site nuclear proving ground, contends records that could have helped workers under the Labor Department’s Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program were buried in a landfill nearly a decade ago. By AP via Las Vegas Sun
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Local N.Y. Workers’ Comp Pool Lightens Taxpayers’ Burden
One Rochester, New York-area town saves taxpayers around $60,000 annually through use of a local, rather than statewide, expense-sharing pool that attempts to pass along only the actual cost of workers’ compensation to taxpayers. By James Goodman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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Postal Work Getting Safer
Records show that the U.S. Postal Service is steadily becoming a safer place to work, with injuries decreasing between 10-15 percent each year. And workers’ comp payments for 2005 injuries fell to about half the amount of payments for new injuries of the previous year, according to Labor Department statistics. By Dan Davidson, Federal Times
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Overhaul BWC, Says Ohio Candidate for Governor
Ohio Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Ted Strickland, in a tour of a paper mill, hears the mill owner’s complaint that costs of workers’ compensation per employee have tripled over the last four years and agrees that the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation should be “professionalize[d]” and overhauled. By Benjamin Duer, Canton Repository
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Commentary: Questioning Murkowski
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and his staff are taking more credit than they deserve for the expected 10.5 percent drop in next year’s workers’ compensation rates in an effort to end his administration on a positive note. His workers’ compensation reform bill did not have much to do with the lower rates—a 37 percent drop in workers’ injuries since 2000 did. Anchorage Daily News
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Bay State City Settles Secretary’s Harassment Claim
As a result of her workers’ compensation lawsuit, a former Methuen, Mass., city hall secretary is set to receive $40,000 in settlement of her claim that she was sexually harassed by her boss, a former city solicitor. By Jason Tait, Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)
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South Carolina Workers’ Comp Rates ‘Issue of the Year’
Skyrocketing workers’ compensation rates in South Carolina may be the business issue of the year, according to the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in South Carolina. Consumers may bear a significant portion of the rate hike. By Garrison Wells, Myrtle Beach Sun
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Bogus Inspectors Extorting Western Australia Businesses
Fake WorkSafe WA representatives are inspecting businesses in Western Australia, threatening owners they are liable for huge fines and trying to force operators to pay hundreds of dollars for safety instruction books. By Amanda Banks, the West Australian
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