Colorado Workers' Compensation Blog

Injuries commonly covered under workers' compensation, including back, neck and shoulder pain, continue to affect nurses throughout Colorado and the rest of the United States, according to a recent American Nurses Association (ANA) report. Almost 80 percent of nurses continue working despite pain caused by daily work activities, such as patient lifting and patient moving.

A Colorado workers' compensation attorney understands that the jobs of health care workers, while important to all of us, can be hazardous to the health of those same workers. As safety equipment improves, workplace safety for nurses continues to improve, but the same problems reported in a 2001 survey are still problems today.

Overwork, stress, disabling injuries and exposure to infectious disease remained at the top of the list of workplace safety concerns for nurses. On the positive side, in 2001 only half of nurses reported having access to equipment that assists with lifting patients. In 2011, that number increased to 2/3 of those nurses surveyed.

Liberty Mutual Inc., compiled the top 10 on-the-job injuries across the country, noting that the top five account for almost three quarters of workers' compensation costs in its 2011 Workplace Safety Index report. Overexertion tops the list, and includes workplace injuries related to lifting, pulling, pushing, holding, throwing and carrying.

Lifting/pushing/turning/pulling injuries often lead to back and knee injuries and also may increase the risk of a heart attack in the Colorado workforce. When an accident happens, injuries are often quite obvious. But, when injuries are the result of the same motion repeated over time, symptoms may not reveal themselves until an injured worker is at home or away from the jobsite, leading to questions of whether workers' compensation benefits should apply.

Four years ago, nine men went to work at the Cabin Creek Hydroelectric Plant near Georgetown, Colorado. Their employer, RPI Coating, Inc., of Santa Fe, Colorado, had a contract with Xcel Energy to recoat an existing water pipeline to prevent corrosion. A chemical fire ignited in the pipeline and five of the workers were trapped about 1,500 feet down the 4,000 foot tunnel system.

Rescuers attempted to lower a fresh air tube and masks to the trapped workers, but were unable to confirm that the breathing aids reached the painters. The men were trapped by the Colorado workplace accident for over three hours. They did not have appropriate gear to climb out of the tunnel and the fire prevented them from exiting below. When rescuers were finally able to reach them, a combination of smoke asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning had already resulted in their deaths.

Earlier this month, RPI admitted fault in the death of the five workers and pleaded guilty to five workplace safety violations that resulted in death. A majority of the $1.65 million in compensation and fines will go to the family members of the deceased workers as payment for dependency and death benefits.

The amount that employers in Colorado pay for the "loss costs" portion of workers' compensation premiums will increase in 2012. After nearly a decade of decreasing loss costs premiums, the last two years have seen the Colorado Division of Insurance raise premium amounts. In 2011, loss costs premiums were raised by 3.4 percent and in 2012 premiums will be raised an additional 3.7 percent.

The average cost of medical payments and lost wages for workers injured on the job, according to WorkersCompensation.com, loss costs reflect the expected costs to insurers and are determined by a ratings organization - all Colorado insurers uses loss cost numbers calculated by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). Loss costs are not rates, but rather a base that is used to help insurance companies calculate the rate to be charged. To arrive at the price of the rates charged to employers for workers' compensation, insurance companies add the NCCI loss costs to their expenses.