North Carolina investigating carbon monoxide in state office
- The North Carolina Department of Labor is investigating four complaints of possible carbon monoxide exposure at the Durham County Human Services building in downtown Durham.
- A spokesperson for the DOL says the complaints were filed between Jan. 18 and Feb. 8.
- A total of 12 employees have filed a workers’ compensation claim among the approximate 700 employees working in the HHS building, according to a county spokesperson.
- Workers have been suffering for weeks, if not months, from nausea, headaches, fatigue and even fainting in the office.
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N. Y. court precludes coverage of a non-leased employee
- For the first time, the Third Department Appellate Division held that an employee was not covered by a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) policy because she was not a leased employee.
- In Brown v. Buffalo Transportation, the court ruled that the PEO and its carrier had met the burden of proof to show that the claimant was not a leased employee and was therefore not covered by the PEO policy.
- This burden was met by producing a list of all leased employees, and testimony of the employer witness.
- The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board has tried to fabricate coverage for non-leased employees under the policies obtained by Professional Employer Organizations.
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Fatal work injuries rise in Mississippi
- Fatal work injuries totaled 78 in 2022 for Mississippi, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
- Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Mississippi was up from the previous year.
- Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1995 and 1999 to a low of 41 in 2021.
- Nationwide, a total of 5,486 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2022, a 5.7-percent increase from 5,190 in 2021, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
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Texas Mutual provides grant to Kilgore College Risk Management Institute
- Texas Mutual Insurance Company, the state’s biggest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, awarded a $100,000 grant to Kilgore College.
- The funds will be used to continue funding the college’s Risk Management Institute, to provide free workplace safety courses for community employers, workers, and the general public.
- This is the 17th consecutive year that Texas Mutual, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, has given a $100,000 grant to the college to support the Risk Management Institute.
- The KC Risk Management Institute program had 727 students enroll in offered safety courses, including its newest courses on excavation and trenching and conducting safety audits over the past year.
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