Safety Belt Use
Occupational Heat Exposure
Every year, thousands of workers become sick from occupational heat exposure, and some even die. These illnesses and deaths are preventable. With the temperatures climbing this week, it is good to be aware of what the heat can do to your body.
When Did My Workers' Compensation "Accident" Occur?
In our office, we are often faced with a situation where an injured worker is unable to answer the question: "When did the accident occur?" Often, this is because they don't even realize they have experienced what Nebraska workers' compensation law considers to be an "accident." The plain, ordinary and popular understanding of what "suddenly and violently" means in the English language doesn't seem to fit with this situation. This is because the injury resulted from repetitive trauma - i.e. an overuse injury - and the worker is unable to point to a particular point in time when an "accident" occurred. They didn't slip and fall, nothing fell on their foot, they weren't in a car accident, etc. It just started hurting and affecting how well they could do their job then finally got so bad that they had to seek medical treatment. The Nebraska Supreme Court recently addressed this issue, and, in the process, reaffirmed and explained Nebraska's rule for determining when a repetitive trauma injury happened.
