The two costliest safety violations in the construction industry over the past three months happened at jobs sites in Washington state, totaling more than $780,000, according to industry news site Construction Dive. In September, the Washington department of Labor & Industries (L&I) fined... (Read More)

Workers’ compensation officials in Amazon's home state of Washington have proposed creating a new risk category for employees at the company’s highly-automated warehouses, who have reported on-the-job injuries at a higher rate than other warehouse workers for several years in a row. If the ne... (Read More)

The long-term economic losses of workers with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), whose common symptoms include numbness and weakening of the hand muscles, have long been known to exceed those of workers with other musculoskeletal conditions, according to the Washington Department of Labor and Industrie... (Read More)

Janitors are an indispensable part of the workforce. But they often don’t get the credit they deserve. A recent report from the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) found that janitorial workers also endure poor safety conditions, abusive supervision, discrimination and ... (Read More)

Workers’ compensation is often thought of as insurance limited to physical injuries on the job. But some work-related psychological conditions are also covered, if they stem from a sudden, tangible, and traumatic event. Linda Lashell Jordan, a 52-year-old meter reader in southwest Washington, c... (Read More)

Workplace injuries and illnesses take many forms and require a variety of legal strategies to secure compensation. One of the more complex types of cases involves proving that an illness was caused by on-the-job exposure to industrial chemicals like benzene. Benzene, sweet-smelling chemical in ga... (Read More)

Washington is one of nine U.S. states, and the District of Columbia, that will conduct the General Election mainly by mail. An additional 36 states will give registered voters the option to request a vote-by-mail ballot. The widespread adoption of mail-in voting (also known as absentee voting) for... (Read More)

The U.S. Department of Energy is exploring ways to bolster the use of Washington state’s workers’ compensation program for Hanford Nuclear Site contractors who are injured or fall ill while cleaning up radioactive waste at the site in Eastern Washington, according to the Tri-City Herald. ... (Read More)

Health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic have risked their health, lives and livelihoods during the ongoing public health crisis that has killed over 200,000 Americans this year. Safety guidelines designed to keep them safe have at times fallen short or been ignored to th... (Read More)

An outbreak of coronavirus infections and three related deaths at a fruit farm in Washington state has spotlighted inadequate safety measures taken to protect seasonal farmworkers, according to independent news site Crosscut. The safety lapses at Gebbers Farms, one of the biggest apple and cherry... (Read More)