Posts Tagged ‘Kansas’

Kansas Shows Decline in Workplace Injuries

March 23rd, 2011 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in workers compensation insurance

Good news from the world of worker’s compensation insurance: labor officials in Kansas say non-fatal workplace were 12 percent lower than average in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics have been compiled.

The Department of Labor says the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses showed that the state’s rate of non-fatal workplace injuries was 4.1 cases per 100 full-time workers in that year, down from 4.5 cases per 100 the year before.

The sharpest drop, the survey says, was in the construction industry, which saw a decline of non-fatal injuries of 29 percent between 2008 and 2009.

The data from the survey also says that 26.1 percent of all injured and ill workers were between the ages of 45 and 54, while those aged from 35 to 44 represented 24.9 percent of total non-fatal workplace illnesses and injuries.

Karin Brownlee, the Kansas Labor Secretary, says the new data is encouraging.

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Kansas Senate wants to Penalize Adults for Helmetless Teens

February 10th, 2010 by admin | 1 Comment | Filed in motorcycle insurance

Motorcycle insurance may pay medical bills if you get into an accident on your bike, but it can’t protect you from a new bill being considered by the Kansas State Senate. It’s already illegal for teen drivers to drive or ride upon on a motocylce sans helmet in the “Sunflower State,” but the bill under consideration wants parents to face the law as well, if they allow their teens to go unhelmeted.

As reported in the Insurance Journal, the bill was introduced roughly a month ago, on January 14, and it would make it illegal for owners of a motorized bicycle or motorcyle to permit any person under 18 years old to drive or ride on their vehile without wearing a helmet.

According to Hutchinson Police Sergeant Brian Hurt, if the bill passes, “…adults could be ticketed for that now, too.”

According to Sgt. Hirt, teens between the ages of 14 and 17 can already be cited for not wearing helmets, with the average ticket costing $25 in fines, and $75 in court costs.

Hirt suggested to the press, “”Maybe (the bill) is a way to encourage people under 18 to wear a helmet, and for adults to say, ‘If you want to ride my motorcycle, you need to have a helmet.”’

According to numbers provided by the NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration), 4,810 people were killed and 88,000 were injured in motorcycle accidents in 2006. In the same year, in Kansas, 64 riders were killed in motorcycle crashes, of which 43 weren’t wearing helmets.

Overall, motorcycle helmet use has been increasing across the country, the NHTSA says, with 67 percent of bikers wearing headgear in 2009, a compared with only 48 percent four years before, in 2005.

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