September News Brief

Uncover the Financial Impacts of Workplace Injury Prevention

Discover how proactive health and safety strategies can lead to significant cost savings for your organization. WorkCare’s Incident Prevention ROI Calculator provides a fast, data-driven estimate of potential savings by reducing workplace injuries. By entering a few key data points about your workforce and operations, you can see how investing in programs like our Industrial Athlete Program and ergonomic consulting can lower workers’ compensation claims, reduce lost time, and enhance productivity. Start calculating your potential ROI today and build a compelling business case for injury prevention.

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TREND WATCH

Workers’ Compensation Trends – Rising Medical Costs

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) reports that employers continue to be concerned about workers’ compensation medical cost trends that are impacted by changes in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement rules and rates. According to the NCCI report:  

• Physician costs account for about 40% of countrywide workers’ comp medical expenditures. Physician fee schedules are often based on factors published in the annual CMS Physician Fee Schedule. 
• Facility costs account for about 40% of workers’ comp medical expenditures in the U.S., with a 3.4% average hike in 2025. 
• Costs for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies vary by state, ranging from 4-14% of workers’ comp medical costs. 

WorkCare offers products and services to help employers control medical costs and improve employee health outcomes. Check out our recent blog on the topic to learn more.

AI Impacts Raise Legal Concerns

Business Insurance reports that attorneys are concerned about the use of evidence and documents submitted in workers’ compensation courts that may have been generated using artificial intelligence, creating a risk for misinterpretations of case law. Social influence to award large (nuclear) verdicts is also on the radar as a concern. 

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REGULATORY UPDATES

OSHA Rulemaking Open for Public Comment

Key elements of OSHA’s Standards Improvement Project 2025 are outlined on its Deregulatory Rulemaking webpage. In early September, the site featured links to 24 notices of proposed rulemaking and one proposal to withdraw a recommendation to add a work-related musculoskeletal disorder column to the OSHA-300 log of work-related injuries and illnesses. Among significant proposed changes, the agency seeks to revise its long-standing General Duty Clause to “exclude from enforcement known hazards that are inherent and inseparable from the core nature of a professional activity or performance.” The clause states that each employer must provide a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. An employer can be cited for violations of the clause when “feasible and practical methods” to correct a known hazard are available but not used. There is a Nov. 1, 2025, deadline for public comments on the rulemaking proposals. A comment period on notices related to fires and house falls in marine terminals, safety-color coding, and the rescission of coordinated enforcement regulations ended on Sept. 2.

Department of Labor

A semi-annual Department of Labor (DOL) regulatory agenda, referred to as the Unified Agenda for Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, was released on Sept. 4, 2025. Agenda items include: 

• Continued research on a proposed OSHA standard for heat-related injury and illness prevention in outdoor and indoor work settings. 
• Reinterpretation and updates to certain respiratory protection requirements.  
• Proposed rescindment of certain requirements for growers using the H-2A program for agricultural labor. 

Proposed OSHA rules on the agenda include shipyard fall protection, communication tower safety, emergency response, lock-out/tag-out (update), welding in construction confined spaces, walking-working surfaces, and tree care. The agenda also lists a series of proposals to improve or eliminate Mine Safety and Health Administration standards.

OSHA Penalty Reductions Range From 20-70%

With updates to the penalties and debt collection chapter of OSHA’s Field Operations Manual, small businesses are eligible for a maximum penalty reduction of 70% for violations of workplace standards. Larger companies that have never been inspected by federal OSHA or an OSHA State Plan, or that underwent an inspection in the previous five years and had no serious, willful, or failure-to-abate violations, are eligible for a 20% penalty reduction. A 20% penalty increase may be applied when a final order on a serious, high-gravity citation is issued. 

Department of Labor (DOL) Self-Audit Programs

In July, the DOL announced self-audit programs designed to help employers, unions, and pension plans voluntarily assess and improve their compliance with federal labor laws. The programs are intended to enhance protections for workers while reducing the likelihood of formal investigation or litigation. A compliance date of April 8, 2026, for metal and non-metal mines remains in effect.  

New Pathway to Safety and Health Success

This summer OSHA launched a six-step Pathway to Safety and Health Success initiative in connection with its Voluntary Protection Programs:   

• Increasing employer outreach 
• Transitioning the agency’s OSHA Challenge to a Safety Champions program. 
• Expanding the voluntary Special Government Employees program. 
• Using leading indicators to measure the impact of injury prevention interventions. 
• Creating VPP Elite to recognize at least 15 years of excellent performance. 
• Expanding VPP safety and health management system categories. 

Funds Allocated for Pipeline Safety, Rescinded for Wind Energy

The Department of Transportation has allocated $86 million in grants to be administered by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to help state partners inspect 85% of the nation’s 2.3-million-mile pipeline network. Meanwhile, the DOT withdrew or terminated $679 million in funding for 12 offshore wind projects.

Paper Medical Waiver Used During Digital Transition

While implementing a 2.0 version of the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners digital platform, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced on Aug. 21, 2025, that it modified a waiver to allow commercial driver’s license holders and motor carriers to rely on the paper copy of a medical examiner’s certificate as proof of medical certification for up to 60 days after the date the medical examiner’s certificate was issued. In addition to submitting physical qualification examination results electronically, as required, medical examiners were advised to continue to issue paper Medical Examiner’s Certificates, Form MCSA-5876, to drivers at the time of their examination until further notice. The waiver is set to expire on Oct. 12, 2025.