Safety Council Calls for Employers and Insurers to Address Opioid Abuse

The National Safety Council is calling on employers to take an active role in preventing opioid abuse by workers' compensation claimants, noting that courts across the nation have begun ruling that deaths linked to opioid overdoses are compensable. In a report titled "Prescription Pain Medications: A Fatal Cure for Injured Workers, the nonprofit safety group warned that judges have ruled that employers and workers' compensation carriers are responsible for paying death benefits when workers die from an overdose of medications prescribed for a work-related injury. The Safety Coun...