COMPACT

The Newsletter for Workers’ Compensation Professionals February 2002

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry

443 Lafayette Road N.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Inside ...
Articles
Department’s settlement action program .. 5
Adjuster training sessions announced ....... 5
Highlights: Workers’ Compensation
System Report ..................................... 6
Certified managed care organizations:
Role of nonparticipating providers ............ 9
DHS ‘Rule 101’; workers’ compensation
health care providers ............................ 10
Claims for slips and falls slide upward
in winter months ................................... 11
CompFact: Teachers and assaults .......... 12
Department action on medical
issue complaints ................................... 13
Common misperceptions about
workers’ compensation coverage ............. 18
Workers’ compensation indemnity
claimants’ age, 1990-2000 ..................... 20
Amputation claims: Worker and
injury characteristics ............................. 23
Analysis of independent medical
exams filed with DLI .............................. 25
Rehabilitation provider conduct
and accountability ................................ 27
COMPACT is a publication of the Minnesota Department of Labor
and Industry. Its purpose is to provide department news and
workers’ compensation case information to professionals who work
within Minnesota’s workers’ compensation system.
Correspondence should be sent to: COMPACT editor, Minnesota
Department of Labor and Industry, 443 Lafayette Road N., St.
Paul, MN 55155; by e-mail at DLI.Communications@state.mn.us.
Subscription requests should be sent to Customer Assistance
Publications, Workers’ Compensation Division, 443 Lafayette Road
N., St. Paul, MN 55155; by e-mail at DLI.brochure@state.mn.us.
Visit www.doli.state.mn.us/compact.html to view this publication
on the Web.
Upon request to the editor, COMPACT will be made available in
alternative formats such as Braille, large print or audiotape.
Tables
• Paid claims per 100 full-time-equivalent
workers, injury years 1984-2000 ........... 6
• System cost per $100 of payroll,
1984-2000 ........................................ 7
• Percentage of paid indemnity claims
with a vocational rehabilitation plan
filed, injury years 1991-2000 ................ 7
• Incidence of disputes, injury years
1984-1999 ........................................ 8
• Slip and fall claims as a percentage of
all indemnity claims, annual average,
1996-2000 ........................................ 12
• Assault claims as a percentage of
indemnity claims, teachers compared
to all other occupations, 1995-2000 ...... 12
• 2001 medical issue complaint
cases closed ..................................... 13
• Mean and median age by gender
and injury year .................................. 20
• Distributions of age groups by
injury year ........................................ 21
• Mean age by occupation,
injury year 2000 ................................. 22
• Mean age by industry,
injury year 2000 ................................. 22
• Mean age by employment status,
injury year 2000 ................................. 22
• Most common events producing
amputations, 1999 and 2000 ................ 24
• Most common sources of amputation
injuries, 1999 and 2000 ....................... 24
• Percentage of claims with a
filed-adverse IME report ...................... 26
Forms
Level 1 Adjuster Training registration ....... 35
Publications order form .......................... 37
Summaries of decisions
Workers’ Compensation Court
of Appeals ........................................... D-1
Minn. Supreme Court decisions................ D-23
Amputation claims: Worker and injury characteristics
By Brian Zaidman, Senior Research Analyst
Research and Statistics

The mention of amputation conjures images of people and 22 percent occurred during the initial three months
losing significant parts of their extremities. Fortunately, of job tenure. In contrast, for all indemnity claims, only
these are very rare occurrences in the workplace. Most 35 percent occurred during the first year and only 16
amputation claims involve the worker losing all or part percent occurred during the first three months of job
of a finger. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, tenure.
about 10,000 occupational amputations occur nationally
each year. Most amputations occur to workers who • Manufacturing and construction account for two-thirds
operate and maintain machinery. of the amputation claims. The manufacture of
industrial equipment and
OSHA administrators believe that amputations are machinery, fabricated
preventable injuries and that additional safety training, metal products and food
use of machine safeguards and heightened awareness of products accounted for 29
the risk of amputation will reduce the number of percent of the claims.
amputations. Federal OSHA issued a compliance
directive in November, to create a national emphasis • The occupations of the
program aimed at reducing amputations (directive CPL amputation claimants
2-1.33). The OSHA program expands the current were concentrated among
program about mechanical power presses to include operators (38 percent),
saws, shears, slicers, slitters and power presses of all crafts (28 percent) and
types. laborers (17 percent).
The detailed occupation
This article describes the characteristics of the injured code with the highest
workers who receive amputations, their jobs, the number of amputations was “unspecified machine
accident events and the tools, objects or machinery operators,” with 43 amputations (15 percent).
involved. The statistics are based on analysis of all
amputation indemnity claims occurring in Minnesota • Nearly all the amputations were to the finger or thumb
during 1999 and 2000. There were 150 amputation (94 percent). Three percent involved a hand or an
claims in 1999, and 145 claims in 2000. arm, and 3 percent involved a leg or foot.

Analysis of the claims showed that:
• Amputation claimants were more likely to be male.
Eighty-seven percent of the claimants were male,
compared to 66 percent males among all indemnity
claimants in 1999 and 2000.
• The average age of the amputation claimants was 39.1
years, slightly younger than the average for all claimants, • Machinery was the accident source of 72 percent of
39.8 years, and the average for male claimants only,
39.3 years.
• Amputations are more likely to occur within the
worker’s first year on the job. Forty-eight percent of
the amputation claims occurred during the first year,
• The injured workers were caught in or compressed
by equipment or objects in 83 percent of the accidents
with reported information. (Figure 1, page 24) Being
caught in running equipment or machinery was the most
common of these types of events. Another 13 percent
involved the worker being struck by an object.
the claims with reported information. (Figure 2, page
24) The most commonly identified type of machinery
was sawing machinery, followed by presses and food
and beverage processing machinery. Parts and
materials accounted for another 9 percent of the claims,
followed by tools and equipment and vehicles.
Amputation claims, continued on page 24

COMPACT 23 February 2002

 Amputation claims, continued from page 23
Figure 1
Most common events producing amputations, 1999 and 2000

Event type Percentage [1]

Caught or compressed by equipment or objects 83.3%
Running equipment or machinery 53.6
Equipment or objects, n.e.c.[2] 15.0
Rolling, sliding or shifting objects 11.2
Unspecified objects 3.4
Struck by object 12.5%
Struck by falling object 3.4
Struck by or slammed in swinging door or gate 3.0
Struck by slipping handheld object 2.6
Struck against moving object 3.9%
1. Percentages based on number of claims with reported events. Injury descriptions for 21
percent of claims were missing event information.
2. Not elsewhere classified.
Source: DLI claims database.

Figure 2
Most common sources of amputation injuries, 1999 and 2000

Source Percentage [1]

Machinery 72.1%
Metal, woodworking, special material machinery 39.4
Stationary saws 15.1
Presses 11.6
Bending, rolling, shaping 4.0
Boring, drilling, planing, milling 2.4
Special process machinery 9.6
Specialized food and beverage processors 7.6
Material handling machinery 2.4
Parts and materials 9.2%
Building materials 3.2
Machine, tool, and electric parts 2.8
Tools, instruments, and equipment 6.4%
Handtools -- powered and nonpowered 5.6
Vehicles 6.4%
Highway vehicles 2.8
Plant and industrial vehicles 2.8
Structures and surfaces 3.6%
Doors 2.8
1. Percentages based on number of claims with reported events. Injury descriptions for 15
percent of claims were missing source information.
Source: DLI claims database.

COMPACT 24 February 2002