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Sixty-nine percent of employees surveyed recently reported that they are tired at work, raising workplace safety concerns as many of those employees work in safety-critical jobs, according to a report released Monday by the National Safety Council. The Itasca, Illinois-based organization's report is the third in a series on workplace fatigue and exposes a gap between how employees and employers view the risks and consequences of being tired at work, according to a statement. The survey included input from 2,110 employees, a majority in manufacturing, transportation, and utilities, and 504 employers. Click to read more:

Workers’ compensation claim denial rates increased a little over one percent between 2014 and 2017, according to a white paper published earlier this year by Lockton. The increase is significant because of the increased costs associated with denied claims. The analysis examined denial rates and focused on answering two questions: What’s driving the increase? Is a high denial rate in the best interest of the employer? Click here to read more:

Ensuring compliance with federal or state occupational safety and health laws and regulations is only part of a workplace safety and health professional’s job. Often, safety managers also handle aspects of an employer’s workers’ compensation program. The two aspects of the job have different demands. OSHA, a federal agency within the Department of Labor, develops workplace safety and health standards that apply nationwide. Despite the fact that approximately half of U.S. states operate under state plans for occupational safety and health, there is a high degree of overall uniformity in workplace safety compliance obligations from one state to the next. Meanwhile, workers’ compensation is administered at the state level. It shields employers from liabilities for workers’ injuries, illnesses, and deaths while covering the costs of workers’ medical treatments and lost wages or providing death benefits to the surviving spouse and children of a worker killed on the job. Most states’ original workers’ compensation laws predate the federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970, and the provisions of these laws vary greatly from state to state. All states except Texas require employers to purchase workers’ compensation insurance coverage. Click to read more:

A Crystal River woman on Monday admitted to stealing thousands in federal workers' compensation and improperly reporting her income to get additional disability benefits. Ruth S. Sprake, 60, pleaded guilty at the U.S. District Courthouse in Ocala to charges of theft of government funds and making false statements to the Social Security Administration (SSA), according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida. A judge will sentence Sprake at an undetermined date to up to 15 years in prison Click to read more:

A recent but long-awaited ruling by the Florida Supreme Court is likely to negatively impact cost associated with workers’ compensation claims and insurance premiums for any business that employs workers in Florida. On April 26, 2016, in Castellanos v. Next Door Company, the Florida Supreme Court, in a five to two ruling, determined that the provision stated in an October 2003 workers’ compensation law (Senate Bill 50A), which caps attorney fees based on a specific formula, is unconstitutional under both the Florida and U.S. Constitutions. The original article is no longer available

Hiring independent contractors is a growing practice for many businesses, allowing them to take on work larger in scope without all of the associated costs involved in hiring full-time employees—including the expense of workers’ compensation insurance. However, the use of independent contractors may also lead to the unforeseen risk for businesses of being deemed an uninsured employer or statutory employer under the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act (the act), which can expose businesses to significant expense and criminal prosecution under the act, as well as liability under the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act (CWMA) Click here to read more:

Gerry Realin spent four hours with the dead inside of Pulse Night Club. ​ He remembers the blood. The smell. The scene was so bad, the eight-member Hazmat team wouldn't let any other officers help them remove the bodies. That way fewer people had to witness what they saw. Click here to read more: