According to a survey of nearly 500 attendees of an occupational safety professionals virtual conference, workplace injuries are rising across the nation because employees are returning to their jobs less physically fit than they were when the pandemic hit. Injuries...
Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Compensation
I was just in a car crash; can I get workers’ comp?
The answer to this question, like many things in the legal world, is that it depends. Those who are in a car crash and suffer serious injuries may qualify for workers’ compensation benefits in certain situations. This is generally an option if the accident occurred...
How shoulder injuries happen on the job
The shoulder is a complex body part, with many joints, tendons and muscles working together to lift and rotate the arm. With so many moving parts, it is no surprise that shoulder injuries are common among Milwaukee workers, Waukesha workers...and workers all over...
A look at “mega” workers’ comp claims
Regular readers of our Wisconsin Workers’ Compensation Law Blog know that in order to get a full understanding of issues involving on-the-job injuries, we sometimes dive into the ways employers and workers’ comp insurers view the world. A recent article in an...
What to watch for: Signs of a repetitive stress injury
Repetitive stress injuries do not discriminate. Anybody that performs the same physical task, over and over, day in and day out, is at risk of developing this type of injury. It might be a small movement, such as pulling products, typing on a keyboard, or twisting a...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics: the history of tracking workplace injuries
The early 1970s were simpler times, though nostalgia for those days should be leavened with caution: those were much more dangerous times for workers. In 1972, there were 10.9 cases of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers. That rate...
What is overexertion and which workers are most susceptible to it?
It turns out there is reason to be concerned about working too hard. Liberty Mutual Insurance has long published a workplace safety index that lists the top causes of disabling workplace injuries. Topping the list for many years has been overexertion. In its 2020...
OSHA’s Top Ten violations
Longtime late-night talk show host David Letterman turned Top Ten lists into a running gag that entertained millions of viewers for years. However, there is nothing funny in the Top Ten Ten list recently issued by the federal government’s Occupational Health and...
Did an absenteeism punishment policy kill a Wisconsin worker?
Most full-time workers in the Milwaukee area receive a certain amount of paid sick leave every year. In theory, employees are encouraged to stay home if they are sick, both for their own health and to avoid spreading illness to their co-workers. But some employers...
Workplace Safety Index reveals most common and costly injuries
Liberty Mutual’s annual workplace safety index looks at on-the-job injuries from the employer’s perspective by drilling down into the data to figure out how often injuries occur and which injuries are the costliest for employers. While some of our Wisconsin Workers’...