When we talk about post-traumatic stress disorder as it relates to workers’ compensation we often think of police officers or firefighters. But there is another group of workers who are fighting to gain PTSD coverage too, the 911 operators who are the initial point of contact in many of these emergencies.

There are 12 states whose presumption laws include 911 operators in their scope of first responders. Idaho just updated their coverage to include 911 operators and their law does not require that the mental injury be related to one event. Minnesota, Florida and Washington have that in their laws. Minnesota’s law lists “public safety dispatcher” in their list of who is eligible, while Florida says an employee must witness tragedy or hear an event but doesn’t point to dispatchers by name.

A study from the Northern Illinois University published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in 2012 found that among 800 surveyed emergency dispatchers, the rate of PTSD fell between 18 and 24 percent. They determined a direct exposure to trauma may not be necessary to increase the risk of PTSD.

Many support this move, saying that even though their lives may not be directly in danger they still hear what’s going on and can’t be there to help. This can cause significant trauma for people.

Dispatchers are classified as a clerical occupation like a clerk or secretary, rather than a protective occupation like a police officer or firefighter.

There are those who are against adding dispatchers, saying it could create a slippery slope towards making these kinds of mental injuries compensable in other industries. Alan Gardner, senior partner and founder of Gardner Law Office LLC in Boise, Idaho, says that because of the way the new law is constructed he is concerned with how the rest of the statute will be impacted. He gave the example of a worker who is in a factory and witnesses another worker suffer traumatic injury, then attempting to claim the same coverage as first responders. The state currently excludes “mental-mental”, psychological-only trauma from being eligible in the system. These are claims that may not have a physical manifestation, but the person is suffering a mental injury.

Read more from Business Insurance and Idaho Press.