‘My foot fell off my shoe — give me workers’ comp’
August 3, 2012 by Fred HosierAn employee twisted her ankle at work, fell and fractured a bone. It’s the sort of injury she could have suffered at home. Does the injury qualify for workers’ comp benefits?
Sandy Johme was a billing clerk at St. John’s Mercy Healthcare in Missouri. Her work involved typing at a computer in an office.
One day she went to the coffee station in her office. She took the last bit of coffee so she made another pot.
At the time, Johme was wearing sandals with a thick heel and a flat bottom with a one-inch thick sole. There were no hazards on the floor and it was dry.
Johme said she twisted her ankle and fell off her shoe, falling backwards and landing on the floor.
She was taken to a hospital where an x-ray showed a fracture of her pelvis.
Johme said she had tripped at work because of the shoes she was wearing, according to hospital records.
Nevertheless, Johme applied for workers’ comp benefits for her injury.
An administrative law judge (ALJ) denied her claim because she would have been exposed to the same hazard or risk in her normal life outside of work.
Johme appealed to the state’s Labor and Industrial Relations Commission.
That led St. John’s to take the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.
The court noted that the state legislature had amended Missouri’s workers’ comp law. In amending it, the personal comfort doctrine was called into question, and new requirements were made for an employee to get workers’ comp benefits.
Specifically, the new law said an injury arises out of and in the course of employment only if it doesn’t come from a hazard or risk to which workers would have been equally exposed to outside of employment in normal life.
St. John’s argued Johme’s injury didn’t meet that new criteria, and the court agreed.
The court said it’s not enough that an employee’s injury occurs while doing something related to work, in this case, making coffee.
So the final decision: Johme doesn’t get workers’ comp.
A note: One judge on the Missouri Supreme Court filed a dissenting opinion, saying Johme’s injury was caused by a work-related risk.
The judge said the work-related task and the injury in this case were “inextricably entwined.”
“The fact that the injury occurred while one is working is, in most cases, the necessary factual predicate for showing that the injury is work-related,” the judge wrote.
Missouri isn’t the only state that has tried to tighten its workers’ comp law in this way. With a strict interpretation such as this, more cases will be found not to qualify for workers’ comp.
One day she went to the coffee station in her office. She took the last bit of coffee so she made another pot.
At the time, Johme was wearing sandals with a thick heel and a flat bottom with a one-inch thick sole. There were no hazards on the floor and it was dry.
Johme said she twisted her ankle and fell off her shoe, falling backwards and landing on the floor.
She was taken to a hospital where an x-ray showed a fracture of her pelvis.
Johme said she had tripped at work because of the shoes she was wearing, according to hospital records.
Nevertheless, Johme applied for workers’ comp benefits for her injury.
An administrative law judge (ALJ) denied her claim because she would have been exposed to the same hazard or risk in her normal life outside of work.
Johme appealed to the state’s Labor and Industrial Relations Commission.
Does personal comfort doctrine apply?
The Commission reversed the ALJ’s decision due to the “personal comfort doctrine,” which says workers’ comp benefits could still be available to an employee who was injured when “tending to a basic personal need while at work.” The doctrine reasoned that employees’ personal activities can be within the course of employment if they ultimately benefit the employer.That led St. John’s to take the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.
The court noted that the state legislature had amended Missouri’s workers’ comp law. In amending it, the personal comfort doctrine was called into question, and new requirements were made for an employee to get workers’ comp benefits.
Specifically, the new law said an injury arises out of and in the course of employment only if it doesn’t come from a hazard or risk to which workers would have been equally exposed to outside of employment in normal life.
St. John’s argued Johme’s injury didn’t meet that new criteria, and the court agreed.
The court said it’s not enough that an employee’s injury occurs while doing something related to work, in this case, making coffee.
So the final decision: Johme doesn’t get workers’ comp.
A note: One judge on the Missouri Supreme Court filed a dissenting opinion, saying Johme’s injury was caused by a work-related risk.
The judge said the work-related task and the injury in this case were “inextricably entwined.”
“The fact that the injury occurred while one is working is, in most cases, the necessary factual predicate for showing that the injury is work-related,” the judge wrote.
Missouri isn’t the only state that has tried to tighten its workers’ comp law in this way. With a strict interpretation such as this, more cases will be found not to qualify for workers’ comp.
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Company fined for failing to call 911 for trapped worker
August 2, 2012 by Fred Hosier
OSHA says employers have a responsibility to immediately call 911 when a worker is injured on the job. If they don’t, they can expect a substantial fine.
OSHA has cited Dukane Precast of Naperville, IL, with four safety violations in connection with an incident in which a worker became engulfed in a sand bin and suffered serious crushing injuries.
Plant employees attempted to rescue the worker for more than an hour before the company called 911. Now Dukane faces $70,000 in fines for four violations:
- a willful violation for failing to immediately call rescue services when the worker became engulfed in sand after he had walked into the bin and onto the sand to level it
- a serious citation for failing to maintain a railing to protect workers from dangerous equipment
- a serious citation for failing to prevent unauthorized workers from entering a permit-required confined space, and
- a serious violation for failing to prepare entry permits before entering a confined space.
The company has 15 work days to decide whether to contest the citations.
The fine levied against this company is relatively low compared to other cases in which a company didn’t call 911 for an injured worker.
In one case, a company didn’t seek emergency medical help for a worker who was seriously burned. The worker died. OSHA fined the company $473,000.
In another case, a worker fell 11 feet onto a concrete floor and suffered broken bones and head trauma. The company put the worker in a wheelchair and had him wait for a relative to pick him up and take him to the hospital. The company was fined $589,200.
OSHA has cited Dukane Precast of Naperville, IL, with four safety violations in connection with an incident in which a worker became engulfed in a sand bin and suffered serious crushing injuries.
Plant employees attempted to rescue the worker for more than an hour before the company called 911. Now Dukane faces $70,000 in fines for four violations:
- a willful violation for failing to immediately call rescue services when the worker became engulfed in sand after he had walked into the bin and onto the sand to level it
- a serious citation for failing to maintain a railing to protect workers from dangerous equipment
- a serious citation for failing to prevent unauthorized workers from entering a permit-required confined space, and
- a serious violation for failing to prepare entry permits before entering a confined space.
The fine levied against this company is relatively low compared to other cases in which a company didn’t call 911 for an injured worker.
In one case, a company didn’t seek emergency medical help for a worker who was seriously burned. The worker died. OSHA fined the company $473,000.
In another case, a worker fell 11 feet onto a concrete floor and suffered broken bones and head trauma. The company put the worker in a wheelchair and had him wait for a relative to pick him up and take him to the hospital. The company was fined $589,200.
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Worker killed by lightning strike; OSHA fines company
July 31, 2012 by Fred Hosier
An employee at an amusement park was killed by lightning. OSHA says the park could have done more to protect and train its employees.
OSHA has fined Adventure Island in Tampa, FL, $7,000 for one serious General Duty Clause violation.
The citation says employees were exposed to the hazard of being struck by lightning while working outdoors because Adventure Island did not follow its own procedures to shut down the rides on the day the employee was killed. The park has a lightning strike monitoring system that indicates activity within five miles.
Justin Inversso, a lifeguard, was injured in a lightning strike on Sept. 10, 2011, when he was working on the Key West Rapids Ride. He later died at a hospital. He turned 21 the day before his death.
Inversso was standing in two to three feet of water as he evacuated patrons from the side, according to authorities. He was taken out of the water by co-workers and given CPR.
OSHA handed Adventure Island a list of ways to abate the lightning hazard when thunderstorms approach. Among the abatement suggestions:
- obtain training from the providers of the existing strike monitoring system about how to interpret data
- supplement data from the existing monitoring system with information from the National Weather Service, and
- reevaluate time required to evacuate guests from rides, especially when employees are the last to evacuate and seek shelter.
OSHA said Adventure Island should also enforce these rules for employees during thunderstorms:
- stay away from pools and avoid contact with water
- don’t take refuge under tall, isolated objects, such as a tent or tree
- avoid metal fences, pipes, rails, utility poles and other electricity conductors, and
- put down any object that might conduct electricity, such as a rake, hoe or shovel.
Adventure Island is contesting the citation. Its parent company is SeaWorld, which has had its own problems with OSHA recently because of the death of a trainer who was pulled under water by a killer whale.
In a Tampa Tribune article on the Adventure Island fine, Gary Lopez, director of an Orlando-based tour planning company, said theme parks face a tough balancing act during inclement weather. “Do you go over the top, kick everybody out of the park and lose money?” Lopez is quoted as saying. “And if you don’t, there’s the liability issue.”
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Safety News Summary for July 30, 2012 (written by Fred Hosier)
In this week’s Safety News Summary: You’ve got a shooter (like in the Aurora theater). What do you do? Heavy patients are weighing down hospital workers. It’s not just workplaces that are getting louder. And 21 people attending a motivational seminar burn their feet while fire walking.
Did the news coverage of the shootings in an Aurora, CO, movie theater make you think about what you’d do if someone burst into your workplace and started firing at your co-workers? Ken Oswald at SafetyCommunity.com has a comprehensive list of what you should do in his post, Active Shooter – What do you do? At The Safety Blog, Caleb Kimpel has more on addressing workplace violence in light of the Colorado shootings.
In other news, USA Today features an article on how hospitals have changed their patient lifting practices to protect healthcare employees from back injuries.
Have you thought bars and restaurants are getting louder, and it’s more difficult to hear other people when you’re dining out? You’re not imagining it, according to a report in The New York Times. The Times measured noise levels in bars, restaurants and gyms and found some “dangerous decibels.”
Finally this week, I’ve never been a fan of some of those team building exercises that companies want to run. I found out in grade school that I’m not good at making things out of index cards and paper clips and don’t need to be reminded of it as an adult.
In this week’s Safety News Summary: You’ve got a shooter (like in the Aurora theater). What do you do? Heavy patients are weighing down hospital workers. It’s not just workplaces that are getting louder. And 21 people attending a motivational seminar burn their feet while fire walking.
Did the news coverage of the shootings in an Aurora, CO, movie theater make you think about what you’d do if someone burst into your workplace and started firing at your co-workers? Ken Oswald at SafetyCommunity.com has a comprehensive list of what you should do in his post, Active Shooter – What do you do? At The Safety Blog, Caleb Kimpel has more on addressing workplace violence in light of the Colorado shootings.
In other news, USA Today features an article on how hospitals have changed their patient lifting practices to protect healthcare employees from back injuries.
Have you thought bars and restaurants are getting louder, and it’s more difficult to hear other people when you’re dining out? You’re not imagining it, according to a report in The New York Times. The Times measured noise levels in bars, restaurants and gyms and found some “dangerous decibels.”
Finally this week, I’ve never been a fan of some of those team building exercises that companies want to run. I found out in grade school that I’m not good at making things out of index cards and paper clips and don’t need to be reminded of it as an adult.
Did the news coverage of the shootings in an Aurora, CO, movie theater make you think about what you’d do if someone burst into your workplace and started firing at your co-workers? Ken Oswald at SafetyCommunity.com has a comprehensive list of what you should do in his post, Active Shooter – What do you do? At The Safety Blog, Caleb Kimpel has more on addressing workplace violence in light of the Colorado shootings.
In other news, USA Today features an article on how hospitals have changed their patient lifting practices to protect healthcare employees from back injuries.
Have you thought bars and restaurants are getting louder, and it’s more difficult to hear other people when you’re dining out? You’re not imagining it, according to a report in The New York Times. The Times measured noise levels in bars, restaurants and gyms and found some “dangerous decibels.”
Finally this week, I’ve never been a fan of some of those team building exercises that companies want to run. I found out in grade school that I’m not good at making things out of index cards and paper clips and don’t need to be reminded of it as an adult.
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