NCCI releases technology report

• The NCCI released the first installment in its new insights series, “The Future of Workplace Safety Technology Is Now,” which explores carrier viewpoints on the latest trends in safety technology.
• Insurers are exploring multiple types of advanced safety technologies and are at various stages of implementation.
• Back injury prevention is a common focus for new workplace safety technology; however, applications are available to address many other injury types
• An employer culture of “safety and trust” is seen as critical to the adoption and sustainable use of advanced safety technologies.
  Read more

Reduced privacy for workers’ comp

• The Pennsylvania courts have held that workers’ compensation claimants are provided with a reduced expectation of privacy. “
• Under state law, invasion of privacy involves four separate torts: unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another; appropriation of another’s name or likeness for commercial purposes; publicity given to another’s private life; and publicity that unreasonably places another in a false light.
• In workers’ compensation-related privacy cases, the privacy tort at issue is the first one listed here, the “unreasonable intrusion upon the seclusion of another.”
• Liability does not attach unless the interference with seclusion is substantial enough that a reasonable person would find it highly offensive.
  Read more

Vermont man killed at construction site

• Vermont OSHA has opened an investigation after a man died in a work-related accident at a construction site in Burke.
• Casey Driver, 25, of Derby, was working on the roof of a three-story building when he hit a high-tension power line with a metal ladder and was shocked.
• He fell about 30 feet off the roof and died at the scene.
• Driver worked for Vincent’s Carpentry of Derby.
  Read more

Federal workers told to work from home because of safety concerns

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials advised hundreds of employees in San Francisco to work remotely due to public safety concerns outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building.
• The 18-story tower is home to various federal agencies, including HHS, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the office of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
• The area is also one of the city’s busiest open-air drug markets, which has attracted more crime.
• Officials with Pelosi’s office and the Department of Labor are working closely with local and federal law enforcement to ensure the safety of their staff, but they have not advised employees to work from home.
  Read more