Kentucky lawmakers aim to amend injury to include psych conditions

Lawmakers in Kentucky are proposing an amendment to workers compensation law to include mental injuries suffered by certain first responders.

H.B. 420, introduced Tuesday, states that for police officers, emergency medical technicians, “frontline staff,” and firefighters that an injury “may include a psychological, psychiatric, or stress-related change in the 22 human organism that is not a direct result of a physical injury.”

Kentucky law describes front-line staff as those working with adult or child protective services, protective services investigations or assessments, or regularly conducting interviews, visits, contacts, or providing transportation services or other services in the homes of family members involved in adult or child protective services.