SB 5470-S.E - DIGEST

(AS OF SENATE 2ND READING 3/12/99)

     Requires a study to be conducted of industrial insurance claims filed by an appropriate sample of workers who have suffered chemically related illnesses or injuries and whose claims were open any time during the period from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1998.  At a minimum, the study shall review:  (1) The nature and severity of the illnesses or injuries reported in these industrial insurance claims;

     (2) the disposition of these industrial insurance claims by the department of labor and industries or self-insured employers;

     (3) the degree to which the lives of these claimants have changed from the time of exposure to the time of the study, including physical and financial condition, and the degree to which the change, if any, can be attributed to the chemical exposure; and

     (4) the extent to which the chemically related injury center of excellence at Harborview medical center was used to guide adjudication of these claims.

     Directs the task force to report to the legislature on an interim basis in December 1999, and with a final report in December 2000.  The final report shall make statutory and policy recommendations including recommended changes to the criteria for determining causality for chemically related occupational disease and injury.