The July chemical accident at the McCraken Power Plant sent 13 workers to the emergency room. According to a recent article in The Columbus Dispatch, five of those injured workers had their hospital bills turned down by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
The bureau’s reasoning was simple: the workers were not injured.
The workers then went to Ohio State for help and initially were turned away. Now, two months later, the university is agreeing to pay the workers’ hospitals expenses, having the bills sent directly to human resources. Better late than never.
The fact that the accident happened on university property should be just cause to pick up a few hundred-dollar medical bills.
We applaud the university’s handling of the ultimate outcome of the situation, though a more timely response would have been the most appropriate course of action. However, the act of paying the bills shows the university taking responsibility for at least a portion of that day’s happenings.
While much of the university’s focus is on the faculty, staff and students, it is just as important to focus on those employed by the university as well, one of the most important parts of the university’s infrastrucure. Not only do they help maintain the daily workings of this university’s many buildings and numerous acres of ground space, they put themselves in harm’s way. It is nice to see OSU stand up and protect those within its walls when no one else would.
OSU should not only set its goals on attracting the nation’s best and brightest students, but with more actions like these, should set to attract the nation’s best and brightest workers. An institution cannot be known for its academics and sports if it has no place to teach and practice. The maintenence and construction of these buildings helps keep this university ranked where it is in all fields.
Such actions, however small, keep the community aware that OSU is not only a haven for knowledge-thirsty students but for workers as well.
