On Wednesday, November 17, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee examined state workers’ compensations systems. Workers’ compensation traditionally provides financial assistance and job training to workers injured on the job and aid to the surviving family of a worker killed on the job.

These systems have undergone numerous changes in the past decade as many states have begun strictly limiting workers’ compensation benefits – changes that may be stressing the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. Additionally, the American Medical Association’s (AMA) guide to assessing injured workers has undergone significant changes in its latest edition, which has made consequential changes to injured workers’ evaluation procedure.

On, Thursday, September 23, the House Education and Labor Committee discussed legislation to reduce and more safely manage concussions in student athletes.  At the request of several members of the Education and Labor Committee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigated the prevalence of concussions in high school athletics and found that concussions often go unrecognized. Recent research shows that concussions can have serious repercussions for student athletes both on the field and in the classroom. During the 2005-2008 school years, an estimated 400,000 concussions occurred in high school athletics – brain injuries that often go unnoticed and untreated.

The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act would establish minimum standards in K-12 schools on concussion safety and management, including educating students, parents and school personnel about how to recognize and respond to concussions. The Education and Labor Committee held a full committee hearing on the issue in May and hosted a field hearing in Long Island, New York in early September.

On Monday, September 13th, the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a field hearing in Long Island, New York to explore how schools and communities can help raise awareness of the risks of concussions and improve concussion management for students.

In May, the committee held a hearing that looked at the effect of concussions on student achievement. Witnesses testified that student athletes’ academic performance in school suffers when concussions are not properly managed. Each year, about 140,000 high school athletes suffer concussions.

On Tuesday, July 20, 2010, the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee of the Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on “Creating Greater Accounting Transparency for Pensioners”. The subcommittee explored the increasingly common practice of investing private sector pension funds in hedge funds and private equity funds, and assess if these pension plans receive adequate, transparent accounting information from these funds. The federal government does not specifically limit or monitor private sector pension investment in hedge funds or private equity.

On Tuesday, July 13, 2010, the Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on “H.R. 5663, the Miner Safety and Health Act of 2010.” H.R. 5663 will bring our nation’s mine health and safety laws up to date, give MSHA the ability to effectively protect miners’ lives, hold mine operators accountable for putting their workers in unnecessary danger, and expand protections to all other workers by strengthening OSHA.

In April, 29 miners were killed at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, the worst coal mine disaster in America in 40 years. In the last decade, more than 600 miners have died while working in our nation’s mines.

On Thursday, July 1, 2010, the House Education and Labor Committee will examine the “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act,” bipartisan legislation to improve the nutritional quality of meals in schools and child care settings introduced earlier this month. The bill would dramatically expand access for millions of children to healthy meals year-round in schools, child care, and community based settings and for the first time, establish nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria.

Currently, over 32 million children rely on the federal child nutrition programs.

The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a field forum in Middletown, Conn. on Monday, June 28 regarding the Kleen Energy Systems power plant explosion. On February 7, a massive explosion ripped through the natural gas power plant that was under construction killing five workers and injuring dozens.

Shortly after the explosion, Connecticut U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, and John Larson requested that the committee hold a proceeding into the tragedy. Rep. Courtney is a member of the Education and Labor Committee.

On Thursday, June 24, 2010, the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a hearing to examine rising safety concerns about students using the Internet, social networking and other technology, especially the increased occurrence of cyber bullying. The hearing will also explore the role schools, students, parents and communities can play to keep students safe.

A recent Pew survey shows in 2009, 73 percent of American teens with access to the Internet use social networking websites, up from 65 percent in 2008. The survey also shows that American teens and young adults say the Internet is a central and indispensable element in their lives.

The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on Wednesday, June 23 to examine how worker health and safety is regulated and enforced by various parties from oil rigs themselves to post-accident cleanup operations.

Questions have been raised about who is ultimately responsible for worker health and safety in light of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and exposed cleanup workers to toxic chemicals. Representatives from government health and safety agencies testified.