San Diego Workers' Compensation Law Blog

When most people think of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), they undoubtedly envision investigations into serious work injuries that can result in the levying of both violations and relatively minor civil fines. However, it's important to remember that Cal/OSHA can also hand down criminal charges for willful or intentional violations of workplace safety, resulting in extremely large fines and even imprisonment.

In fact, Cal/OSHA is now bringing criminal charges against a UCLA chemistry professor and the University of California (UC) Board of Regents for perceived labor code violations in conjunction with a horrific 2008 lab accident in which a research assistant suffered fatal burns.

In December 2008, 23-year-old Sheri S. was working in a lab on the UCLA campus, transferring chemicals from one container to another via a plastic syringe. However, the syringe fell apart and the chemical which she was transferring -- t-butyl lithium -- ignited upon being exposed to the air.

Sheri S.'s synthetic sweater caught fire and she suffered severe burns. Tragically, she died of her injuries only 18 days later.

In workers' compensation law news, the California Department of Insurance recently announced that the majority of work comp insurers doing business in the state are increasing their base or premium rates for the upcoming year.

Specifically, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that the top 100 work comp insurers -- accounting for 96.7 percent of the entire California market -- collectively increased their workers' compensation premium rates by an average of 2.8 percent for 2012.

Interestingly, this year marks the start of a new system in which the Department of Insurance establishes a recommended benchmark for premium rates that work comp insurers are either free to follow or deviate from.

Here, it appears that the majority of work comp insurers choose to adhere to this recommended benchmark.

"This past year we improved the pure premium benchmark process by establishing a benchmark based on what is happening in the market," said Jones in a released statement. "In November, I announced the approved advisory pure premium benchmark that would be effective in 2012. A significant number of insurers, representing a significant share of the overall market, are using the approved advisory pure premium rates."

While the heat has abated in recent months with the onset of winter, it's nevertheless important for California employers to remember that the necessary measures to protect employees from heat exhaustion and heat stroke -- two extremely serious work injuries -- must be in place come summertime. Failure to do so can have devastating consequences.

To illustrate, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) recently handed down a $74,125 fine to C. Clunn Consulting, a Holtsville-based company, for its actions in connection with the death of a farmworker this past summer.

According to Cal/OSHA, Romero V., 47, was loading 40-pound boxes in a cantaloupe field in 102-degree heat on the afternoon of July 7, 2011. Sadly, he collapsed after being overcome by the heat and later died at a nearby hospital.

After a comprehensive investigation, Cal/OSHA determined the following:

• C. Clunn failed to provide both employees and supervisors with the proper training on how to identify and treat heat illness, a violation of state regulations
• C. Clunn failed to follow its own policies/procedures regarding the protection of employees from excessive heat

There is no question that the absolute necessity of computers in the modern workforce has contributed to a rise in the number of workers afflicted with carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, recently released figures from the federal government show that the number of afflicted workers may be higher than previously thought.

The annual National Health Interview Survey -- which consists of data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau through personal household interviews -- reached the following conclusions regarding carpal tunnel syndrome in the workforce:

• In 2010, 69.4 percent of all employed adults diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome were informed by their healthcare provider that their condition was directly related to their employment
• In 2010, women were more likely than men to be afflicted with work-related carpal tunnel syndrome

Interestingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also released its own data set on carpal tunnel syndrome in the workforce, revealing that 3.1 percent of all employed adults ranging in age from 18 to 64 were diagnosed with the condition in 2010.

It should come as no surprise that serious neck, back and spine injuries are a relatively common occurrence in office settings. In fact, office workers can suffer truly debilitating injuries that cause them to miss extended periods of time, including slipped discs or muscle tears. More often than not, however, office workers suffer some form of repetitive strain injury (RSI), meaning injuries to the muscles, tendons and/or nerves of the neck, back and upper limbs typically caused by long hours at a computer workstation.

As it turns out, desktop computers may no longer present the sole risk of RSIs to office workers.

According to reports by British health experts, both smartphones and tablet computers -- now a staple of many offices -- are responsible for a growing number of work-related neck, back and spine injuries.

In particular, these experts found that one in every 50 workers in Britain suffers from so-called "text neck." This condition occurs when people using smartphones or tablet computers lean their heads forward to glance at the small screens of their devices for several hours at a time.

Now that 2012 is here, California workers' compensation law will see some rather significant changes, as several new laws signed by Governor Jerry Brown over the course of the past year have finally taken effect. In particular, two of these laws are noteworthy since they will likely prove beneficial to employers and employees alike.

The first work comp bill is Assembly Bill 1168. This legislation -- sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) -- is designed to establish limits on the now prevalent practice of out-of-state vendors charging outrageous counseling fees pertaining to work comp-related services.

"A class of consultants known as 'vocational experts' has emerged to counsel disabled workers about their level of permanent disability," said Pan in a press release. "While this could be a positive development in the workers' compensation system, some counselors are charging exorbitant fees for their services."

AB 1168 calls for the holding of public hearings to establish a sensible fee schedule/billing rates for these vocational experts.

Whether working above ground, at ground level or below ground, people who work on construction sites are accustomed to all types of dangers. However, did you know that those people who work below ground - meaning in trenches - are particularly vulnerable to serious or even fatal work injuries caused by cave-ins? In fact, the United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that at least two workers in the United States are killed in trench collapses every month.

The following post will continue to examine dangers associated with trenches and a few of the OSHA safety rules that construction companies/builders must follow.

(Please see "A closer look at trenches and preventing trench collapses" for more information ...)

Post continued ...

Entering and exiting trenches

OSHA standards dictate that any trench at least four 4 feet deep must have some type of entrance/exit device located within 25 feet of all workers.

Acceptable devices include ladders, steps, ramps or other similar means of entrance/exit.

Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its annual publication entitled "Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Requiring Days Away From Work, 2010." As usual, the findings of the survey revealed some very interesting trends regarding the types of nonfatal work injuries/illnesses suffered by American employees over the previous year, and the time away from work typically needed to recover.

According to the survey, the average rate of nonfatal work injuries/illnesses necessitating time away from work was 118 cases per 10,000 full-time employees. In addition, the BLS determined that the total number of nonfatal work injuries/illnesses necessitating time away from work was 1,191,000, and that the average amount of time spent away from work by injured/ill employees was eight days.

While these figures may seem high, consider that both the average rate of nonfatal work injuries/illnesses necessitating time away from work and the average amount of time spent away from work by injured/ill employees remain unchanged from the previous year. Furthermore, the total number of nonfatal work injuries/illnesses necessitating time away from work actually declined by four percent.