Workers' comp reformers back at the drawing board. (Workers' Comp Reform)

Worker's comp reformers back at the drawing board

Reformers in the 1990 Legislature hammered, chiseled, drilled and blasted away at Colorado's workers' compensation system.

And when the dust settled, nary a dent was left behind.

Now, the reform movement is preparing to take a second whack at workers' comp. But changing the system may be more difficult than expected.

The most recent available figures on workers' comp costs in Colorado are averages from 1985 to 1987, before cost-saving reforms took effect, and legislators now being asked to make changes lack the up-to-date data necessary to pinpoint where the problems lie.

"We're steering a boat by looking at the wake, and the wake is pretty far back," said Scott Meiklejohn of the Workers Compensation Education Association, a group of trial attorneys …