When it comes to workplace injuries, it's well known what the usual suspects are. This knowledge isn't merely anecdotal. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has an information system that supplies a list of the ten most frequently cited violations...
Breast cancer in women is one of the most high profile cancers in the country. The breast cancer research stamp is only one of many awareness-raising efforts aimed at getting the word out about the need to devote resources for fighting the disease. But ignorance about...
In our March 6 post, we wrote about safety violations at a Pennsylvania factory that produced Hershey's chocolates. This week, there was another development in that story. Yesterday the U.S. Labor Department announced an agreement with the company that operated the...
There is broad agreement in American society that recycling is important. Indeed, it is becoming more important by the day, as part of the quest to reduce our environmental footprint. As part of this quest, policy makers talk frequently of creating "green jobs." But...
There is plenty of change in American life. The technological revolution continues to unfold, profoundly changing many jobs. Plus, global competition is increasingly a major challenge. As a result, sometimes it seems like businesses are constantly restructuring. Amid...
People can get injured on the job for many different reasons. Sometimes the cause is defective products. Another common cause, however, is careless conduct by co-workers. And to a much greater degree than has previously been realized, much of that carelessness has to...
Warehouse work can be dangerous to employees in many different ways. Most obvious, of course, is the constant traffic of forklifts that bustle back and forth carrying various packages and pallets. But those are far from the only dangers. In Pennsylvania recently, at a...
In our previous post, we wrote about the risks of overusing narcotic painkillers when recovering from work injuries. In this post, we will discuss a trend toward the use of an alternative treatment that can potentially eliminate that risk: the use of acupuncture. This...
Each person has his or her own threshold for pain. Some people can tolerate more than others. But in the case of a serious back injury or other workplace injury, the use of narcotic painkillers is often needed, even for those with a high pain tolerance. Such...
It's a basic principle of workers' compensation law in Pennsylvania and other states that a worker does not have to prove negligence on the part of an employer (or a third party) in order to be eligible for benefits. If you got hurt on the job, and reported the injury...