Workers at West Fertilizer Co. were not injured by the huge blast at the plant that killed 15 people and devastated a wide swath of a small Texas town, but the explosion did bring to the fore an emerging Workers Compensation issue of deep concern to the insurance industry.
The only West Fertilizer employee involved was a first responder killed in the blast who was covered by a workers compensation fund that covers all employees of the state's 2,700 municipalities, according to Carol A. Loughlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, based in Austin.
The city employees of West, Texas, and the 11 first responders who were killed, were covered under the state plan's Large Loss Fund, she said. "It won't deplete our fund; we can handle it," Loughlin says.
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