Trade Center Injury Claims Still Coming In

A national campaign to register the people who performed rescue, recovery and clean-up activities at the World Trade Center after the terrorists' attack has increased filings by tenfold the New York State Workers' Compensation Board announced on the anniversary of 9/11.

The Board launched the Tell Us You Were There campaign, this summer encouraging World Trade Center workers to file the eight-question WTC-12 form.

A total of 31,543 people, the Board said have filed a WTC-12 form with it since it was introduced in 2006. The WTC-12 advises the Board that the filer performed rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts for the World Trade Center.

The filers' right to future workers' compensation benefits, should they ever need them is preserved by the form, the Board said. The centerpiece of the campaign was radio and television spots, in English and Spanish, with former NY Yankee Bernie Williams, that have been run statewide since July 7.

Zachary S. Weiss, WCB chairman said, he wanted to commend New York Gov. David Paterson “for his commitment to maintaining the eligibility of everyone who did that extraordinary duty.” He added that, “The people who came forward at that difficult time deserve our gratitude and should receive all the benefits they are entitled to under the law.”

The Board partnered with the World Trade Center Health Registry to send WTC-12 forms to all the rescue, recovery and clean-up workers in its database. The Board also contacted the private employers of people who did this work, asking them to make their employees aware of the program.

Other governmental entities that are assisting in public outreach include the state departments of Labor and Motor Vehicles; the counties of Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Nassau; and the City of New York, said the Board.

The Board said it is also working with several state and national firefighter and emergency service groups to make their members aware. Union, labor and civic groups are also supporting these ongoing efforts.

Areas involved with the World Trade Center work include south of Canal Street.; at Fresh Kills Landfill; on the barges, the piers, and at the morgues.

Gov. Paterson recently signed legislation extending the filing deadline to Sept. 11, 2010.

In August the Board said it received 2,551 filings, up from an average of 200 filings a month before the campaign began. Since the campaign began in mid-June, 3,528 WTC-12 were filed.

Separate from the workers who've filed WTC-12, the Board said it has received a total of 12,234 workers' compensation cases resulting from the World Trade Center disaster.

The study on the Board's Web site focuses on the 11,224 cases in the Workers' Compensation Board Claim Information System. The 131 volunteer cases and 879 cases that proceeded through an alternative dispute resolution method are not included in that study.

While 54 percent of cases were filed before Sept. 11, 2002, cases continue to arrive. In the last three months, 136 cases were opened, the Board reported.

It said there are 4,297 claims for rescue, recovery and clean-up workers. But, about 55 percent of rescue, recovery and clean-up workers did not pursue their cases beyond an initial filing.

The Board said it believes many of these workers may have opened cases to establish standing should theyever become ill. (The need for these “defensive filings” was removed, the agency said, when the WTC-12 was introduced.) Injured workers from out of state who filed with the New York State Workers' Compensation Board may also have instead chosen to pursue their cases in their home states.

Of the pursued cases, 78 percent of rescue, recovery and clean-up workers received a benefit.The most frequently occurring injury was for respiratory illnesses (88 percent of cases). About 5 percent of cases were for traumatic injuries.

Another 2 percent were for psychological illnesses.

Combining the 31,543 WTC-12 filings with the 4,297 workers' compensation cases yields a total of at least 35,840 people performing rescue, recovery and clean-up after the World Trade Center disaster, said the Board.

WCB said there are 2,056 death claims and all but one of the death claims were for people killed in the attacks.

WCB said the cases involved were for workers who are a part of the New York State Workers' Compensation System. Members of the New York City Police and Fire Departments, and uniformed New York City Sanitation workers, for example, it noted are not part of the state system. Federal employees are not part of the state system, either.

People who worked on the World Trade Center disaster who wish to file should call

877-WTC12-08 or visit http://www.wtc12.org/ to get more information and a WTC-12 form, the Board said.