PowerBlog Review: Workers Comp Insider

Editor's note: This is the eighth in our popular weekly series of PowerBlog Reviews of other weblogs...





The Workers Comp Insider is a "weblog about workers' compensation, risk management, business insurance, workplace health & safety, occupational medicine, injured workers, insurance web tools & technology, and related topics."



This blog is a terrific resource on these niche topics. I've already found useful references.



The Workers Comp Insider is published by the employees of Lynch Ryan, a workers compensation firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts on the east coast of the USA. The firm helps businesses -- large and small -- reduce their workers compensation costs.



The Workers Comp Insider is an interesting example of an established business using a weblog to communicate with customers. They do it without obvious commercials.



This is a weblog that leverages subject matter expertise. They provide the kind of in-depth information and analysis of their subject that you would expect of experts in their field.



One of the most useful features about this blog is the collection of link resources. It reminds me of some of the early link sites on the Internet. Remember how useful they could be before they became crassly commercialized with pop-under ads and other annoyances?



You'll find links to the major governmental and industry sites covering occupational safety, workers compensation, and workplace insurance issues.



But you'll also find links to sites you probably never heard of and that only an expert in the field would know of. For instance, there are links to resources for "latex allergy" and "typing injury FAQ" (bloggers, take note, you might need this last one some day).



In one post, they highlighted workstation (computer) ergonomics. The resources cited are off-the-beaten track and excellent.



Lynch Ryan has done a good job integrating the weblog with their commercial website:

• Even though the weblog has its own URL, it is appended to the company's website. Thus, on the commercial website, you find a menu button for the blog.





• They have placed blog headlines on the home page of the commercial website. This is an excellent way to keep the home page fresh, with regularly updated content.





• The blog uses the same color scheme and graphical elements as the company's commercial website.

The Workers Comp Insider has been on the web since September 2003.



The Power: The power of the Workers Comp Insider is in the subject matter expertise its writers bring to the table. You know they know their stuff. It's an excellent resource for information about on-the-job injuries and workers compensation