Workers' compensation for occupational respiratory diseases

Our plain-English summary of Workers' compensation for occupational respiratory diseases, by S.Y. Park, H.R. Kim, J. Song (Journal of Korean Medical Science, 2014).

The study

• Authors: S.Y. Park, H.R. Kim, J. Song
• Journal: Journal of Korean Medical Science
• Published: 2014;29 Suppl(Suppl):S47-51
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

The respiratory system is one of the most important body systems particularly from the viewpoint of occupational medicine because it is the major route of occupational exposure. In 2013, there were significant changes in the specific criteria for the recognition of occupational diseases, which were established by the Enforcement Decree of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (IACIA). In this article, the authors deal with the former criteria, implications of the revision, and changes in the specific criteria in Korea by focusing on the 2013 amendment to the IACIA. Before the 2013 amendment to the IACIA, occupational respiratory disease was not a category because the previous criteria were based on specific hazardous agents and their health effects. Workers as well as clinicians were not familiar with the agent-based criteria. To improve these criteria, a system-based structure was added. Through these changes, in the current criteria, 33 types of agents and 11 types of respiratory diseases are listed under diseases of the respiratory system. In the current criteria, there are no concrete guidelines for evaluating work-relatedness, such as estimating the exposure level, latent period, and detailed examination methods. The results of further studies can support the formulation of detailed criteria.

In plain English

This was a descriptive policy article, not a study of patients, and it did not cover occupational cancers. The authors described Korea's 2013 amendment to its criteria for recognizing occupational diseases, focusing on respiratory diseases. Official compensation statistics showed 572 occupational lung disease cases in 2012 and 3,128 from 2008 to 2012, about 4.66 per 100,000 workers. These counts included pneumoconiosis, asthma and asbestos-related diseases. The amendment added fifteen agents to the existing nineteen and deleted vinyl chloride. It also added chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), limited to workers with prolonged high exposure to coal mine dust, silica or cadmium fumes. The list now names 33 agents and 11 respiratory diseases, with asbestosis due to asbestos as item A. The article stated that asbestos exposure lasting more than 1 year is necessary to define occupational exposure, but that sufficiently intense exposure for less than a month can also result in asbestosis. HRCT was recommended for diagnosing asbestosis. The authors noted the criteria give no concrete guidelines on exposure level or latent period, and said further studies could support detailed criteria.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Descriptive policy article on the 2013 revision of Korean occupational disease compensation criteria for respiratory diseases (labelled an original article). Occupational cancers are excluded.
• Who was studied: Officially accepted (compensated) occupational lung disease cases in Korea, 2008 to 2012: 3,128 cases in total. Occupational lung disease here includes pneumoconiosis, asthma and asbestos-related diseases.
• Exposure: Agents listed in the revised compensation criteria. These include asbestos (for asbestosis) and coal mine dust and cadmium fumes (for COPD). No asbestos fiber types are named.
• Main results:
  • Official statistics counted 3,128 occupational lung disease cases in Korea between 2008 and 2012, about 4.66 per 100,000 workers.
  • In 2012 there were 572 occupational lung disease cases.
  • The amendment added fifteen agents to the existing nineteen and deleted vinyl chloride.
  • The current criteria list 33 types of agents and 11 types of respiratory diseases.
  • COPD was added, but recognition is limited to workers with prolonged high-concentration exposure to coal mine dust, silica or cadmium fumes.
  • In describing asbestosis, the article stated that asbestos exposure lasting more than 1 year is necessary for defining occupational exposure to asbestos.
  • The article added that even sufficiently intense short-term asbestos exposure for less than a month can result in asbestosis.
  • The article stated that HRCT is recommended for diagnosing asbestosis.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors noted that the current criteria lack concrete guidelines for judging work-relatedness, such as exposure level, latent period and detailed examination methods. They concluded that further studies could support the formulation of detailed criteria.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Occupational Exposure, Occupational Disease.

Related studies

• Workers' compensation for nonmalignant asbestos-related lung disease — C. Nevitt, W. Daniell, et al. (1994)
• SWORD '94: surveillance of work-related and occupational respiratory disease in the UK — D.J. Ross, B.A. Sallie, et al. (1995)
• The cost of compensating asbestos victims under the Occupational Disease Compensation Act of 1983 — F.B. Siskind (1987)
• Compensation scheme for complementary and alternative medicine use in asbestos-related diseases in New South Wales, Australia — C. Oak, H.J. Choi, et al. (2012)
• Occupational respiratory cancer in Korea — H.E. Lee, H.R. Kim (2010)
• Occupational risk factors for chronic respiratory disease in a New Zealand population using lifetime occupational history — A. Hansell, R.E. Ghosh, et al. (2014)

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