The opioid epidemic tearing through our nation is damaging families and communities and costing governments billions of dollars. Many approaches are being sought to curb the epidemic and recoup expenses spent on treating it. Last month, for instance, eleven cities and towns filed a lawsuit in Cook County, Illinois against both pharmaceutical companies and three specific doctors alleged to have helped cause and spread the epidemic.

One recent study, however, has turned its attention to the way workers’ compensation is impacted by the prescription of opioids, and the data is not kind to the drugs.

In 2016, around 60 percent of nonfatal workplace injuries were the result of common, everyday mistakes. Since these are largely preventable issues, CPI Security worked to create a list of the eight most frequent injury types and their causes to enable employers to make adjustments to employee safety.

Madison.com reports that the data used originated with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and reviewed nonfatal injuries that caused days off work. The data did not include the self-employed, workers on small farms (10 or fewer people), private household workers, volunteers, or federal government workers.

Everyone experiences fatigue from time to time. For some people, it becomes a part of their everyday life. Whether they realize it or not, they are putting themselves and the people around them at risk.

The Center for Construction Research and Training has organized data from the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program to create a searchable database of construction fatalities. Using this database, they were able to identify trends in construction fatalities from 1982 to 2015.

They found that nearly half of all deaths in the construction industry during that window involved falls.

Workplace accidents can happen anytime of the year, but winter is an especially challenging time for outdoor workers in Illinois. Snow and ice accumulation. Frigid temperatures. Dangerous debris. These are real cold weather hazards that employers can’t ignore.

EHS Today recently reported on the four steps an emergency health and safety manager can take to protect employees. Our workers’ compensation attorneys urge employers to follow these steps to keep their outdoor workers safe.

While Illinois is known for cold winters, the recent stretch of arctic temperatures has tested even the most hearty Midwesterners. For those who make their living outdoors, the snow and ice not only can add up to unpleasant working conditions, but also can bring a risk of injury.

Specifically, outdoor workers during the winter months face a higher risk of slipping, tripping and falling than during other times of the year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2014, there were 34,860 slip-and-fall injuries involving ice, sleet or snow requiring workers to take at least one day off to recuperate. The BLS also reported thousands of other slip-and-fall accidents that did not result in lost work time.

The busiest shopping season of the year is upon us, and many industries are hiring extra staff to handle the higher demand. With thousands of new employees being thrown directly into a high-stress atmosphere and stores that are more crowded than usual, mistakes happen. Some of these mistakes can even leave employees injured on the job. This is the season when we must be extra vigilant about how we handle the causes and results of workplace injuries.

We grind. We tough it out. The subtle suppression of yawns could almost be considered part of our necessary skill set. We close our eyes “just for a second.” Just a second. What could go wrong?

Fatigue and sleepiness are often used to describe the same thing. But they aren’t really synonymous. Sleepiness is the physiological desire to sleep. Fatigue describes a physical, mental or social impairment that includes tiredness, reduced energy and an increased effort to perform at top level. Fatigue happens to everyone, but some are more at risk than others.

Adults need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep each day, but 30 percent report averaging less than six hours, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Nearly four out of 10 employees in the United States suffer from sleep loss.

In late September of this year, OSHA began enforcing a new rule on respirable crystalline silica, a common material produced by industrial activities involving stone, glass, brick, and other materials. This is actually the first part of a two-step rule being rolled out, and only impacts construction industries; general industrial and maritime rules will begin enforcement June 23, 2018. The rule is aimed at reducing exposure to the airborne silica, thereby reducing cases of multiple diseases associated with its intake.

Anybody who has ever worked a job where they spend most of the day on their feet is well-aware of the physical toll it can take.

However, recent studies indicate that sore feet, a sore back, and other common aches and pains could pale in comparison to a much bigger threat for workers accustomed to standing all day: a dramatically increased risk of heart disease.

Any workers’ compensation attorney knows that workers with active jobs often face different risks than those with sedentary jobs. But with more information pointing to risks well beyond what active workers might expect, it is becoming more important than ever for employers to examine physical activity levels among workers.