The WSIA Weekly, 2.5.16
Legislative
session hits first major deadline
Today
marks the cutoff for bills not related to tax, fiscal, or transportation
matters to have emerged from the House or Senate committee considering them.
Several workers’ compensation and workplace safety measures survived this
deadline and are eligible for further consideration, including a bill
addressing allowance and interlocutory orders for self-insurers and a bill
greatly expanding the presumption of firefighter occupational disease. For a
complete run-down, check
our weekly legislative update (member login req’d).
Earlier this week, the Department of Labor & Industries published its required semi-annual rulemaking agenda, a spreadsheet documenting the various topics the agency is considering or has actually scheduled for rulemaking activity during the first half of 2016. There are numerous topics arising in the safety and health arena that are under consideration, as well as workers’ comp rate-setting issues, and self-insurance rules related to implementing the vocational rehabilitation “Option 2” and converting claims reporting to a nationwide electronic data interchange. Take a look here.
WSIA
Safety Committee meets next Thursday
The WSIA
Safety Committee holds its next online meeting next Thursday, February 11th
from 2:00 p.m. to approximately 2:45. The primary topic of discussion will be
“Leading Indicators & Turning Laggers into Leaders.” The committee will
also report on a confined spaces training it is developing with DOSH
representatives for later this spring. Please contact committee chair John
Shervey if you would like to be a designated part of this month’s panel or
would like participate or present on future meeting topics -- it’s a great
and rewarding way to get safety presenting experience in a controlled manner. To
participate in the meeting, which uses the GoToMeeting online platform, click this
link to register – and come prepared to share some tricks of the trade and
your questions about how to get ahead of workplace accidents.
We’re still registering the last handful of seats for our upcoming Complex Claims Training, taking place February 18th and 19th at Valley Medical Center in Renton, and received word this week that the Department has awarded it 14 hours of scarce Claims Management credits toward the Department’s claims handler certification. If you need to hit your credit goal, or want to explore advanced topics and Q&A with some of the industries’ top experts, check this training out.
Know any clients, colleagues, friends interested in self-insurance in Washington?
Please direct them to our complimentary upcoming workshop, “How to Self-Insure in Washington,” taking place April 5th at the SeaTac Marriott, across from the airport. The seminar will feature expert advice and Q&A on the what, how, whether, and why to consider self-insurance in Washington, from numerous perspectives including insurance, risk management, legal, claims management, Labor & Industries oversight, and workplace safety. We just ask attendees to RSVP with us that they’re coming. Information and RSVP link here.
Labor
& Industries announces Agriculture Safety Day February 24th
Our
members in agriculture and related industries may be interested in the 12th
annual Agriculture Safety Day, taking place on February 24th at the
Wenatchee Convention Center. The daylong event is hosted by the Governor’s
Industrial Safety & Health Advisory Board and Labor & Industries’
Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Click here for more
information.
New website spotlight:
Still celebrating the launch of our new website in January, we’re spending a few weeks spotlighting new or improved areas that members might not have discovered yet.
Our popular job board for the workers’ compensation and workplace safety industry has been brought forward with a new and improved interface. There are a few ways to find it, but the easiest is to just scroll down on our homepage:
