Lower rates in effect in Kentucky
- Kentucky employers have a decrease in workers’ compensation costs as the most recent loss costs filing approved by the Kentucky Department of Insurance (DOI) went into effect on Jan. 1.
- The loss costs filing is used to develop employer rates for workers’ compensation coverage. Figures show an average reduction of 6.4 percent for the 586 industrial classes used in Kentucky.
- This represents the 18th consecutive drop in loss costs and marks an expected continuation of declining workers’ compensation premium rates for employers.
- Rates began to decrease substantially following the 2018 passage of House Bill 2, legislation sponsored by Rep. Adam Koenig which made reforms to the workers’ compensation system for the first time in over twenty years.
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Workers’ comp bill would help 9/11 helpers
- A proposed bill in New Jersey would ensure that all public safety workers who spent time at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 attacks will remain able to access needed health care.
- The legislation also would provide workers’ compensation benefits to public safety workers who experienced any illness, injury or death as a result of their participation in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
- The legislation moved forward from the state Senate Labor Committee, which Lagana chairs, on Thursday.
- If the bill becomes law, impacted public safety workers and their families could file disability claims through the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Claimants would be required to note important details.
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Grant to battle MSDs
- The National Safety Council is awarding up to an additional $260,000 this year through these pioneering grant programs to help uncover promising new safety solutions to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
- As a key initiative of the Council’s MSD Solutions Lab, a groundbreaking strategic program established in 2021 with funding from Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), a total of up to $535,000 has now been committed in grants to foster innovative, transferable methods to mitigate MSDs across a range of sectors and workplaces.
- MSDs include tendinitis, back strains and sprains, and carpal tunnel syndrome, and are often caused by exposures to repetitive, forceful exertions like heavy lifting.
- They affect people in every industry and sector and cost U.S. businesses in the private sector nearly $17 billion a year.
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Utah worker injured after electrocution
- A contractor at the Rio Tinto Kennecott Smelter in Magna, Utah, was electrocuted, which forced the facility to stop operations.
- The unidentified contractor was performing maintenance when they were electrocuted and then transported to the hospital where they are currently being treated.
- The condition of the injured contractor was not disclosed.
- Rio Tinto Kennecott said regulatory agencies had been notified and that the incident is under investigation.
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