It was reported last week by numerous sources that EAMS (the WCAB's Electronic Adjudication Management System) was not operational over several days. Apparently, the entire system was inaccessible and, as a result, virtually all aspects of the state's workers' compensation system were put on hold.
WorkInjury.com also verified that the system's online case "lookup" and case number converter programs weren't working (although they are now).
[Both these programs - the case lookup and the case number converter - are available on our site in the left margin of our home page, as a free public service.]
The full extent of the malfunction is not yet known, nor are the causes. The real question is whether this is "just the beginning" of what's in store for an ill-conceived system doomed to failure. Or whether this is just the expected "growing pains" inherent in any new electronic system.
The answer to this question is critical - given the fact that the system leaves no room for "going back," since scanned documents are shredded.
In any event, this temporary shut down serves as a wake-up call to all in the workers' comp community to insist that more emphasis be placed on what could go wrong... before it does.
It doesn't take much effort to recall other government electronic systems that morphed into boondoggles (to wit, the DMV and IRS). Too much is at stake here, and the system is too far along, to allow that to happen with EAMS.
A serious system failure, at this point in the game, would be catastrophic.
