Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our appreciation to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation as well as to the Executive Officer Christine Baker, for making this study possible. Also, the staff of the Commission for their dedication and coordination efforts. We are also grateful to the members of the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation advisory committee who provided important feedback and guidance regarding this project.

We also are extremely grateful to the participants on the study for sharing their knowledge and experience, in particular the carve-out ombudspersons and administrators Richard Robyn, Sharlene Horn, Bob Lopez, Linda Stutzman, Mike Massey, Mario Cruz, Mitch Weiss, and Dan Hall who generously offered their assistance on numerous occasions. Our thanks also go to the injured workers interviewed at the NECA/IBEW and ESRP carve-outs for their insight and cooperation.

Special thanks is extended to all of the people at NECA, the IBEW, the Metropolitan Water District, and the numerous building trades involved in the Eastside Reservoir project for giving us access to the people places and data that made the case studies possible, also, Stuart Lott at Hartford and Serge Morgan at California Casualty, and Mary-Lou Misrahy for assistance on issues surrounding insurance under safety groups, wrap-ups, and carve-outs.

On legal issues were often assisted by Richard Younkin of the Division of Workers' Compensation and Dick Gannon, at the time with the WCAB, Frank Russo, Doug Kim and Mark Gerlach of the California Applicants Attorneys Association, Victor van Bourg, Mark Lipton, Carl Uehlein and again by Richard Robyn.

The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB), Dave Bellusci, Russ Roeckel, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Department of Insurance (DOI) for facilitating the data acquisition and analysis.