Washington state authorizes new program for injured workers

Under a new program in Washington state, employers who provide temporary work to an injured employee may be reimbursed for half of the worker's pay.

The Stay-at-Work Program is part of a workers' compensation bill (.pdf file) signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) on June 15.

According to the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, keeping injured workers in light-duty jobs helps employers retain valuable workers and avoid major increases in their L&I premium rates.

The new law also permits injured workers 55 and older to negotiate a settlement agreement with periodic payments instead of remaining in the workers' comp system or being re-trained.

Other parts of the law include:

• Safety grants for innovative return-to-work programs for injured workers
  
• An independent study on occupational disease claims in Washington
  
• A performance audit of the workers' comp claims management system
  
• A "rainy day" fund to stabilize rate changes during economic recessions

Source: The National Safety Council

A little light reading from OSHA and NIOSH

Contributed by Eric Tofte, Director of Training, Evergreen Safety Council
Did you know that According to OSHA that more than 145,000 people work in over 7,000 warehouses and the fatal injury rate for the warehousing industry is higher than the national average for all industries. OSHA has also developed a pocket guide for warehouse safety.

According to NIOSH workers are at risk of severe injury and death during machine maintenance and servicing if proper lockout and tagout procedures are not followed. NIOSH recommends developing and implementing a hazardous energy control program including lockout and tagout procedures and worker training to prevent such incidents. NIOSH has a LOTO publication for you to review.

Washington state fraud program brings in millions

Tumwater, WA – More than $137 million was collected last year by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries' workers' compensation fraud program, according to a new report issued Jan. 18.

The annual report (.pdf file) to the state's legislature details the money the program collected from employer premiums, audit assessments, overpayments to workers, health care and vocational providers, and fraud recovery orders.

According to the report, L&I's Fraud Prevention and Compliance Program brought in $7 for every $1 invested in 2010.

Highlights from the report include:

• Completion of 5,789 claimant investigations of suspected workers' comp fraud or abuse, which was a record
• Assessed $26.4 million through employer audits, including $7.2 million against companies who hired employees but failed to open a workers' comp account
• Seventeen cases were referred for criminal prosecution

L&I said in a press release the collections were evidence of the success of targeting and enforcement working.

Source: The National Safety Council