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Little over a month ago,  Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn signed a new bill into law initiating the secure exchange of electronic heath records in Illinois.  The Health Information Exchange and Technology Act creates  the necessary framework through which health care providers and insurance companies can electronically share health records.  While patients may fear that making [...]

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Several workers in northern Iowa were working to unclog a sewer line when one of the sewer workers was overcome by sewer gas and died. The work site was in North Sioux City, Iowa. It’s reported that the safety rules were not followed and the men were overcome by sewer gas while working to unplug the line. Confined space safety [...]

When you are injured at work in Iowa, it is unlikely your employer will permit you to choose which doctor you see.  The Iowa Workers’ Compensation system limits workers’ choice of medical care to treat occupational injuries.  In fact, with few exceptions your employer generally has the right to select and direct your medical care provided they [...]

A strike by laborers in the construction industry devastates progress for crucial projects and has widespread effects, from increased traffic which is the product of stalled roadwork, to businesses that rely on the timely completion of a project.  For almost three weeks now, construction workers on strike in Illinois have been holding out for better [...]

Any classic American occupation can conjure iconic images. Mentioning “construction work” reminds us of the Industrial Revolution, with capable men raising skyscrapers protected only by a pair of sturdy boots and a yellow hard hat. Every bridge, highway, and city skyline as we know it today was built through the efforts of these hard working [...]

June 1-7, 2008 marked the first annual American Red Cross CPR and AED Awareness Week. The Red Cross sponsored activities and educational services nationwide with the goal of encouraging “states, cities and towns to establish organized programs that provide CPR and AED trainings and increase public access to AEDs.”
An automatic external defibrillator (AED), is a [...]

This week the Chicago Tribune reported on an incident in which a 17-year-old girl employed in a sandwich restaurant in Palos Heights, IL was closing up the store for the evening at 9:00pm when she was abducted at knifepoint and sexually assaulted. She was the only employee on duty, and was left to close the [...]

It was encouraging news for workers and companies as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently announced that in 2007, fewer workers were injured on the job. The AP reports that the number of workers killed on the job annually dropped to a historic low in 2007.
While the news of overall fatalities is a positive [...]

If you are injured on the job, there is a section in the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act called the Exclusive Remedy Provision. It provides that there is no common law or statutory right to recover damages from the employer other than workers’ compensation. A recently published article by the American Association for Justice in their [...]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) gives guidelines and requirements necessary for training employees, and imposes them particularly on companies whose employees engage in dangerous work activities. Such programs are intended to provide important lifesaving and safety education.
These programs also place a rigorous responsibility on the employers with respect to providing their employees with [...]