Things you should know

'Safety at Heights': ISEA launches campaign on fall protection, dropped objects prevention

ISEA's SafetyAtHeights.org website provides educational resources for employers and workers, including:

• Facts about dropped objects and workplace deaths and injuries
• A list of job hazards that workers and employers should be aware of
• Downloadable PDFs of ISEA and ANSI safety standards
• Links to more than a dozen online safety resources

Proposed rule to amend trucker hours-of-service regs slated for publication in June

A proposed rule intended to add flexibility to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers will be published in early June, according to a Department of Transportation regulatory update released in May.

ISHN magazine publishes 2019 Readers' Choice Award winners for best PPE and safety equipment products

For the seventh year in a row, the Industrial Safety and Hygiene News published its Readers' Choice Awards for the best occupational health and safety products from 2019.

Stressed out: Survey shows almost half of workers have cried at work

Work-related stress has driven nearly half of full-time employees in the U.S.to tears, results of a recent survey, 2019 Behavioral Health Report, show. Researchers from Ginger, an on-demand behavioral health services provider, assessed more than 1200 workers' experiences with behavioral health and their employer-provided benefits. 48% of survey respondents said on-the-job stress has made them cry at work. In addition, 83% said they experienced stress at work at least once a week.

Among workers younger than 40, 45% reported "extreme stress" - defined as experiencing stress on a daily basis. Women were more likely to cry at work, but 36% of men acknowledged crying at work because of stress. Generation Z and millennials are more likely to miss work because of stress.

Reattaching to work before clocking in may improve engagement, health: study

Visualizing and planning for your workday may lead to better engagement and well-being, results of a recent study indicate.

Food truck safety resources spotlight propane hazards

WorkSafeBC has published a safety bulletin and blog post intended to help food truck owners and workers avoid hazards associated with propane tanks.

State News

California

• Findings from The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) CompScope Benchmarks for California, 19th Edition, showed higher litigation expenses than other states. Total costs per all paid claims were higher than most study states for 2015 claims with an average of 36 months of experience, mainly driven by a higher percentage of claims with more than seven days of lost time.

Florida

• Florida Gov. DeSantis signed into law a bill that allows firefighters diagnosed with any of 21 types of cancer to receive disability and death benefits outside of the workers' compensation system. Senate Bill 426 will allow firefighters to receive medical treatment for their condition with no out-of-pocket expenses.
• The WCRI CompScope Benchmarks for Florida, 19th Edition, shows that two 2016 Supreme Court decisions continue to affect the workers compensation system, but despite an uptick in indemnity benefits per claim, the comp system costs are in line with other states. The cost driver for the increase in indemnity benefits was a jump in lump-sum settlement payments per claim.

Illinois

• The Workers' Compensation Commission launched a new case docket website, which was built to work on mobile devices and tablets.
• The Governor has signed into law Senate Bill 1596, which will allow tort claims to be filed after the state's occupational-disease statute of limitation expires.
• The WCRI CompScope Benchmarks for Illinois, 19th Edition, shows the average total cost of a workers' compensation claim remained higher than most states, driven by high attorney involvement and high medical-legal costs. The report also shows more lump-sum settlements than most other states, and the share of claims paid in lump sums continues to rise every year.

Indiana

• A new law, H.B. 1341, increasing the maximum penalty to $132,598 from $70,000 for each worker death resulting from an employer knowingly violating safety regulations, goes into effect July 1.

Massachusetts

• Two key deadlines critical to the implementation of the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave law (PFML) have been extended. Employers have until June 30, 2019 to provide written notice to covered individuals of their rights and obligations under the PFML. Also, businesses will now have until September 20, 2019 to file an application for a private plan exemption.
• Massachusetts' workers' compensation fraud investigators in 2018 referred 256 cases for prosecution, the most ever in a single year, according to a local news station.

Michigan

• Medical marijuana is now available to patients immediately after receiving online approval. The approval email may be used as a temporary substitute for a valid registry card in order to obtain their medication.
• Michigan's attorney general launched a new enforcement unit to prosecute worker misclassification and wage theft by employers.
• Michigan State University College of Human Medicine has launched a campaign intended to raise awareness of work-related asthma.

Minnesota

• The Workers' Compensation Division released a draft of the latest implementation guideline for its electronic data interchange, which is expected to be mandated in August 2020.
• Minneapolis' Sick and Safe Ordinance extends to any employee who performs at least 80 hours of work per benefit year in the City of Minneapolis, even if his or her employer is not located within the city's limits, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has held in Minnesota Chamber of Commerce v. Minneapolis.

Missouri

• The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) continues to expand the use of Box Account, a virtual mailbox. The Attorney General's Labor Unit recently began using Box to file Answers to Workers' Compensation Claims filed by injured state employees.

New York

• New York City has enacted a law prohibiting New York City employers from requiring prospective employees to submit to testing for the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The new law, the first of its kind in the United States, became effective on May 10, 2019.

Pennsylvania

• The WCRI CompScope Benchmarks for Pennsylvania, 19th Edition, showed the average total cost of a workers' compensation claim is among the highest of 18 states studied, with litigation costs a key driver of higher overall benefit delivery expenses.

Tennessee

• A new amendment to Tennessee's Healthy Workplace Act may offer employers protection from lawsuits for mental anguish. The new amendment became effective April 23rd when Governor Bill Lee signed H.B.856 into law expanding coverage to include private employers.

Wisconsin

• By executive order, the Governor has authorized the creation of a joint enforcement task force on payroll fraud and worker misclassification. The DWD's Worker Classification website is available here.