Rebuilding the system
- Christine Baker, the former Director of the Department of Industrial Relations, played a central role in the landmark workers comp reforms.
- By 2012, the system had become unnecessarily litigious with lengthy delays, worker benefits were low, and the medical care was inconsistent and at times even detrimental to workers.
- Baker was able to show that the out-of-control premium increases could be reversed, and at the same time, disability payments increased to workers, along with improved medical care.
- Various other changes were made to standardize and improve medical care and speed the injured worker’s return to work.
More options will emerge in 2023
- Sedgwick recently released its “Imagine 23” report of major industry trends and issues that employers, brokers, carriers, risk managers, and product safety experts should be aware of throughout the coming year.
- New options for onboarding, collaboration, inclusion, and benefits will emerge.
- Carriers and risk managers will need the right tools, expertise, and partners to be prepared for oncoming challenges in climate, coverage, and continuity.
- New strategies for managing claims performance, and the use of technology and data to redefine quality in the claims process in light of continued inflation.
Bill would expand comp for firefighters in New Hampshire
- A proposed bill New Hampshire Senate would make all types of cancer among firefighters a presumptive occupational disease eligible for workers’ compensation.
- A bipartisan group of senators wants to ensure that cancer diagnoses in firefighters would be presumed to be occupationally caused.
- This would make active-duty, volunteer, and retired fire department members eligible to collect workers’ comp benefits.
- The bill would also remove language that says firefighters can only collect workers’ comp benefits if the type of cancer involved was caused by exposure to heat, radiation, or a known carcinogen.
Mining accident leaves one dead, one injured
- One miner was killed and another injured in an accident at an underground mine in northeast Nevada, Nevada.
- The worker who was injured in the accident in Eureka County, Nevada, was treated at an area hospital and released. No names have been released.
- Investigators said the accident involved hand tools at the Goldstrike Underground operation, about 25 miles north of Carlin, but no other details have been released.
- The last hard rock mining fatality in Nevada was nearly a year ago when a truck driver was killed in a crash at the Cortez Underground Mine.