Author Archives: Matthew Funk

Hurricane Sandy Cleanup Safety Fact Sheet

The Mount Sinai-Irving J Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine has published a fact sheet describing hazards for those engaging in the response to or cleanup from hurricane Sandy. They also list some services the Center provides and their locations and phone numbers. You can read the fact sheet here.

If you or someone you know was injured during the response and cleanup of Hurricane Sandy please contact Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP at (800) 692-3717

 

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Safety Tips for Workers Preparing For Hurricane Sandy

We urge everyone in the path of Hurricane Sandy to make safety their number one priority.

The NJ Office of Emergency Management and the National Hurricane Center are closely monitoring Hurricane Sandy (“frankenstorm”) as it has the potential to become an historic storm as it moves up the Eastern seaboard and will merge  and embed with a developing
classic Northeastern rain and wind storm. Over 50 Million people will be impacted. A State of Emergency has now been declared in NJ, NY and MD.
 
A wide spread power loss has been predicted. NJ  has issued an immediate warning concerning power generator safety and back-feeding of electric current through the use of generators. At a press conference Governor Christie warned the residents of NJ to be cautious  and observe safety measures. He said “If it looks stupid, the it is stupid,” and don’t do it. Additionally, a High Wind Warnings have been issuedfor Northeastern NJ, NY and CT.
 
While the State will be settling down to another historic first on Saturday, when undefeated Rutgers plays Kent State in Piscataway, NJ, the preparations will go forward to adequately prepare for the weather related storm, Sandy.
 
Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference late Friday afternoon explaining what precautions the government was taking and what safety measures needed to be followed to protect life and property. He said, “….whenever we’re faced with a tough situation, history shows New Yorkers always show courage, compassion, and presence of mind. We did that 14 months ago, during Hurricane Irene, and I’m completely confident we will do that again now.”
 
Home Depot stores in NJ have run out of batteris (C-D cells) and local food store are experiencing a run on bread, water and canner goods as the preparation pace continues.

Workers’ Compensation insurance provides benefits if an employee is injured because of because of a hurricane. Preparing for a hurricane is important, and that should include reporting work related injuries to your employer and/or insurance company.

While NIOSH has alerted all of us to the dangers of a hurricane, “….Storm and flood cleanup activities can be hazardous. Workers and volunteers involved with flood cleanup should be aware of the potential dangers involved, and the proper safety precautions. Work-related hazards that could be encountered include: electrical hazards, Carbon Monoxide, musculoskeletal hazards, heat stress, motor vehicles, hazardous materials, fire, confined spaces and falls.”

Should a worker suffer any injuries then they should seek medical care at once, and report the incident to their employer. Prepare ahead and take your employer’s contact information and workers’ compensation insurance information with you so you are prepared to provide to authorities and your employer the facts to process your claim without delay.

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Congratulations to our SuperLawyers!

Victor Pasternack, Barbara Doblin Tilker and Jordan Ziegler (top row). Catherine Stanton, Edgar Romano and Robert Saminsky (bottom row).

We are proud to congratulate Victor Pasternack, Barbara Doblin Tilker, Jordan Ziegler, Catherine Stanton, Edgar Romano and Robert Saminsky for being named to the New York Super Lawyers list as one of the top attorneys in New York for 2012. Each attorney was also named in 2011. It is an honor to have so many or our attorneys on this prestegious list, as no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a rigorous multi-phased process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area.

The first Super Lawyers list was published in 1991.

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The 11 Most Life-Threatening Jobs on the Planet

Today’s post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Iowa, who shared this illuminating post with his readers. We often focus on the dangers of jobs close to home (numbers 6, 8, 9 & 10), but others jobs around the world also pose great risk their workers. We hope that regulations are put in place in every country to ensure worker safety.

Today’s post comes to us from our colleagues at insurancequotes.org.

The danger workers face on the job is not always compensated by higher pay. Life-threatening jobs can be mind-numbingly simple, easily performed by unskilled workers or children, or as physically and mentally demanding as one can imagine. Cable television shows like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers give some sense of the dangers faced by workers in the sea fishing and truck driving industries respectively, while films like Workingman’s Death (2005) document examples of dangerous, and almost pointlessly unproductive manual labor. Below are 11 life-threatening jobs ranging from the banal to the bizarre.

Photo by Nate Robert, licensed through Creative Commons.

  1. Street Sweeper (Rwanda)The most humble of jobs can be the most dangerous. On the streets of Kigali province, in the country of Rwanda, women dressed in blue work from dawn to dusk sweeping the roads and highways. Drivers, going several miles per hour, zoom past, their cars missing the street-sweeping women by just inches. The women wear no reflective clothing, and there are no cautionary signs or pylons alerting drivers of the presence of these women on the road. In a country with 30% unemployment, street sweeping, which pays approximately $3 a day, is a sought-after job.
  2. King Crab Fisherman (Alaska, United States)
    More dramatic than street sweeping, crab fishing in the Bering Sea is one of the world’s most dangerous professions. The fishing takes place night and day in rough waters that constantly and violently rock the boats, sending high waves crashing over the decks. Fishermen can slip on the soaked deck, get hit by flying objects, or fall overboard into freezing water. In the 1990s, the Alaskan fishing industry experienced 400 deaths per 100,000 employees. That number has increased since.

  3. Sulfur Miner (East Java, Indonesia)Java’s sulfur miners gather chunks of yellow sulfur located next to a steaming, acidic volcano crater lake. The men hold their breaths and run into the clouds of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, gases that burn the eyes and throat, and grab as much sulfur as they can carry before returning to relative safety away from the lake. The miners gag, choke, and spit before repeating the process again and again. The sulfur they gather is used to bleach sugar, make matches, and vulcanize rubber. The miners are paid $10 to $15 a day, with some extra income coming from posing for photographs taken by curious tourists well away from the poisonous gas. Gloves and gas masks are unaffordable luxury items.
  4. Police Office (Kabul, Afghanistan)
    As recently as December 2011, police officers and police stations in war-torn Kabul, Afghanistan, have been targeted by the Taliban soldiers and suicide bombers. CBS News reports that every day, five out of 10 Kabul police officers die on the job. Lack of training and high-tech tools, as well as government-level corruption and an economy based on the heroin trade, prevent Kabul’s police force from performing their job with any degree of safety or effectiveness.

  5. E-Waste Recycler (Guiyu, China)
    Old discarded electronics, including laptops, home entertainment systems, and smart phones, are exported to Guiyu’s electronic waste sites to be gathered and broken down, by hand, for scrap metal by thousands of low-paid workers and their children. The electronics release toxic metals and chemicals into the workers and the environment, poisoning families and their environment. The amount of e-waste on the planet is increasing at an alarming rate, mostly in developing countries, with illegal exporting and dumping contributing to the glut of toxic electronics.

  6. Truck Driver (United States)
    Driving a truck is one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that truck drivers are “more likely to die in a work-related accident than the average worker,” Continue reading →

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What Is An Occupational Disease?

Occupational diseases arise over time.

The Workers Compensation Law protects workers who sustain injuries in the course of their employment. There are different types of injuries that are covered under the law. An accidental injury is the most common and familiar to the working person. An accidental injury is easy to identify it is usually a traumatic event. However, most workers are not informed as to the existence of another form of an injury that is covered under the law. That is the occupational disease. An occupational disease does not arise from a specific traumatic event. It is a condition or disability that develops over time usually based upon a repetitive aspect of an occupation.

An occupational disease does not arise from a specific traumatic event. It is a condition or disability that develops over time usually based upon a repetitive aspect of an occupation.

To be considered an occupational disease there must be a distinctive feature to the claimant’s employment that caused the condition to develop. For instance a construction worker who lifts heavy bags of cement for 10 years and is diagnosed with tear in the knee without any incident may have a claim for an occupational disease. Another typical case is a data-entry worker who develops carpal tunnel syndrome from heavy computer work. Workers who are exposed to a noisy work environment can file a claim for an occupational loss of when they retire or are removed from the noisy work area.

A claimant can file a claim for benefits under the occupational disease statute even if the diagnosis comes long after the claimant has left the harmful work environment. This is a common feature of the slow starting job related diseases, like silicosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The claim must be filed within Continue reading →

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NFL Players Suing For Workers’ Compensation – Head Injuries At All Levels Are Cause For Concern

In light of the lasting damage caused by head injuries, NFL players are catching on that they can get workers’ comp benefits. We hope the NFL takes all necessary steps to protect its players, and we are glad that the workers’ comp system protects all injured workers.

A recent ESPN article highlighted this recent phenomenon:

“Playing professional football is inherently dangerous, but the known risks do not prevent players — and former players — from filing workers’ compensation claims against teams, courts have ruled. And while an individual compensation award might cost a team just $20,000, the changing types of claims being filed could end up costing teams millions of dollars a year.”

The article also points out that teams might be liable for millions in yearly claim payments and that at least one insurance broker who has worked with an NFL team thinks that workers’ compensation costs could force significant changes to how the game is played on the field. It saddens us that cost, not player safety, could be the cause of this much-needed change, but we welcome anything that will keep our workers — and players — safe.

We recommend that you read the whole article to get a better understanding of how football injuries can have serious and long-lasting effects. This is important, not just from a fan’s pespective, but also because young children and adolescents have suffered irreperable harm from injuries incurred while playing amateur football.

For this recent ESPN report highlights a case where a young player was paralyzed after an on-the-field play went wrong:

 

Check out this video for an entertaining debate between Malcolm Gladwell, Buzz Bissinger, TIm Green and Jason Whitlock about the place of football in America’s colleges:

BAN COLLEGE FOOTBALL – On WNET from Intelligence Squared U.S. on Vimeo.

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Workers Beware Questionable (Fraudulent) Employer Tactics

It’s time to start talking about employer fraud.

Today we have a guest post from our colleague Tom Domer of Wisconsin. 

Over the course of 35 years representing injured workers, I have heard some whoppers – Employers’ questionable tactics that make even my jaw drop. With all the insurance company generated blather about “employee fraud” incidences of employer fraudulent tactics abound. Workers beware of the following:

  • Recorded statements taken by worker’s compensation carrier adjuster while employee is under medication or in the hospital still suffering from the injury. Questions such as “It’s true you had (low back pain, arm pain, fill in the blank pain, etc.) before your work injury, correct? You’ve had lots more pain from (your motor vehicle accident, sports injury, etc.) than you’re experiencing from your work injury, correct?
  • Employer “channeling” a work to its “Return to Work Clinic” (doctors on company payroll whose opinion is “like some athletic coaches, ‘rub some dirt on it and get back in the game’.”
  • Telling employees to take sick leave rather than claim worker’s compensation.
  • Telling employees to file medical bills under their group insurance, not worker’s comp.
  • Nurse Case Manager who initially befriends the employee but later makes every attempt with the worker’s doctor to prematurely return the worker to the job before a healing occurs.
  • Employer paying worker in cash with no payroll stub (or gives workers a Form 1099 rather than a W-2). Continue reading →

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Returning to Work Shouldn’t Be This Hard

Communicate with your doctor and follow a few guidelines to stay safe when you return to work.

Today we have a guest post by our colleague Roger Moore of Nebraska.

In virtually all workers’ compensation cases an injured worker has to return to work in some capacity. Often these are very stressful situations and it is not uncommon for issues to arrise including conflict with an employer over what a safe return to work actually is. Your goal should be to continue to earn a paycheck while at the same time not risking further injury. Many times this is easier said than done.

Whether it’s a supervisor who ignores your restrictions or a human resources department that actively skirts them, issues frequently come up. We see employers do everything from requiring an injured worker to lift or stand more than they should, to pressuring an employee to return to work the day after a surgical procedure.

You can expect that a nurse case manager or HR specialist from your employer is communicating with your doctor’s office about your return to work. Sometimes they may misrepresent the work that they expect you to do upon your return. It is your job to fill in the gaps.

The most important thing an injured worker can do is communicate with his or her treating physician.

  1. Educate your doctor about the job you were doing when you were initially hurt.
  2. When you are assigned to work, educate your doctor about the light duty job you are doing.
  3. If you are assigned to a job that is difficult for you to perform due to your injury, talk to your doctor about what aspects of that job are difficult. The doctor will likely be willing to restrict you from doing that specific activity.
  4. If your employer is Continue reading →

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