Created in 1914, the NYS Workers' Compensation Board has attempted to keep up with changes in the labor market and technology, most notably a computer system being used to manage a system that annually handles more than 250,000 injuries and nearly $6 billions in awards for lost wages and medical expenses. That the system work as well as it does is a credit to the 1,500 civil servants and political appointees who work there. But there is a great deal more than can be done, and should be done. The system should be more responsive to the needs of the injured workers, as well as those employers whose insurance premiums not only pay workers' lost wages and medical expenses, but also pay all the expenses of running the Board. Having served nearly 12 years on the Board, trying to fix the system from the inside, under three governors and four chairman, former Commissioner Mike Berns tells the real story of how the system works - and what can be done to make it better.