City gov't says staph a work-related injury
Emergency Management Alert, October 8, 2007
Some cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among firefighters and police qualify as work-related injuries, said the city council in Fresno, CA this week. The onus is on the officer to prove he or she got staph on the job. Like TB and Hepatitis B, staph would be covered by the city's workers' compensation insurance.
Thirteen Fresno firefighters have filed workers' compensation claims over the infections since 2005, Jerry Smith, vice president of Fresno Fire Fighters Local 753, told the Fresno Bee. Four of them tested positive for staph, according to Terry Bond, Fresno's city personnel services director.
The city paid $11,747 in medical bills while some of the workers' compensation claims were being investigated. However, some such claims were denied because the firefighters couldn't prove they were infected on the job, Smith said.
Advocates of the change say that if protective services workers know workers' comp will cover treatment, they'll be quicker to report any symptoms, thus lessening the chance that the infection spreads to other firefighters or community members. Read more here.
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