Video hearings between the Portsmouth office of the Industrial Commission of Ohio and the headquarters in Columbus have apparently had successful results, and will save the state more than $200,000 per year.

Christa D. Deegan, Executive Director of The Industrial Commission of Ohio, said the first video hearings were conducted between the Portsmouth and Columbus IC offices on June 24, 2010. Now, video hearings are being held three days a week, and by the end of July, the IC plans to have video equipment installed in its Cambridge, Logan and Cincinnati offices as well.

Deegan said over the next 10 years, the use of video hearings in place of having a hearing officer travel will save the IC more than $2 million in travel expenses.

“Once video hearings are in full swing at these five offices, we are going to look at adding video hearings to our Mansfield and Lima offices as well,” Deegan said.

A video hearing is exactly the same as a regular IC hearing with one exception: Instead of the hearing officer being in the room, there will be a video monitor. Deegan said the hearing officer will still be able to see and hear everything that takes place in the hearing room.

“Video hearings in our Portsmouth office have been favorably received by the public, and our hearing officers are able to better utilize their work hours,” Deegan said. “Our goal is to make the convenience of video hearings available to serve our customers across the state.”

The IC conducts hearings on disputed workers’ compensation claims, determines violations of specific safety requirements, and determines if an injured worker is permanently and temporarily disabled due to a work-related injury or occupational disease. The IC conducts over 180,000 hearings annually and most hearings take place within 45 days of the original claim appeal.

Three governor-appointed commissioners lead the agency, headquartered in Columbus, which has five regional and seven district offices throughout the state

Deegan listed several other benefits of video hearings:

• Reduce state pool car use, allowing the IC to move state cars to areas with a greater need

• Allow hearings officers in one IC office to handle hearings for another office. This will spread the workload evenly and allow for quick docket reassignments due to hearing officer illnesses or emergencies

• A docket could list hearings for one location per day, or hearings could be conducted for multiple locations in a workday

• Productivity will increase because hearings may be held during the time that hearing officers would have spent traveling

• Hearing cancellations due to bad weather will decrease since hearing officers will no longer have to travel to other officers

Frank Lewis may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232 or flewis@heartlandpublications.com