What is an occupational disease?

An occupational disease is a disease that has its determining cause in a professional activity. 

Occupational diseases are generally persistent conditions, i.e., impairments in work capacity, suffered by specific workers or groups of workers as a result of their work activity. They are conditions that would not occur, or at least not in the same way, if persons had not been exposed to the type of work they were doing. They are the direct consequence of a more or less prolonged exposure to a physical, chemical or microbial risk or to specific working conditions such as noise, vibrations, working postures, etc., to which people are subject in their usual occupations. 

How to get an occupational disease recognised?

An occupational disease can be recognized in two ways: 

• a disease is presumed to have its origin in a person’s occupation when it is listed in the table of occupational diseases and is contracted as a result of exposure to a specific risk at work. If you prove that you are suffering from an occupational disease listed in the table and that you were exposed to a risk while working with insurance, the disease is presumed to be of occupational origin (a closed system); 
• the law also allows the accident insurance to cover an occupational disease not listed in the table as long as you clearly demonstrate that the determining cause of the disease originates with a person’s occupation (an open system).

 

1 – Diseases caused by chemical agents
11 – Metals and metalloids
11 01	Diseases caused by lead or its compounds
11 02	Diseases caused by mercury or its compounds
11 03	Diseases caused by chromium or its compounds
11 04	Diseases caused by cadmium or its compounds
11 05	Diseases caused by manganese or its compounds
11 06	Diseases caused by thallium or its compounds
11 07	Diseases caused by vanadium or its compounds
11 08	Diseases caused by arsenic or its compounds
11 09	Diseases caused by phosphorus or its inorganic compounds
11 10	Diseases caused by beryllium or its compounds
2 – Asphyxiating gases
12 01	Diseases caused by carbon monoxide
12 02	Diseases caused by hydrogen sulphide
13 – Solvents, pesticides and other chemicals
13 01	Mucosal diseases, cancers or other urinary tract neoformations caused by aromatic amines
13 02	Diseases caused by halogenated hydrocarbons
13 03	Diseases caused by benzol, its homologues and styrene
13 04	Diseases caused by nitro or amino compounds of benzol or its homologues or derivatives thereof
13 05	Diseases caused by carbon sulphide
13 06	Diseases caused by methanol
13 07	Diseases caused by organic phosphorus compounds
13 08	Diseases caused by fluorine or its compounds
13 09	Diseases caused by nitric esters
13 10	Diseases caused by halogenated derivatives of alkyl-, aryl- or alkyl aryloxides
13 14	Conditions due to p-tertiary butyl phenol
13 15	Diseases caused by isocyanates
13 16	Dimethylformamide liver diseases
13 17	Polyneuropathy or encephalopathy by organic solvents and their mixtures
13 18	Diseases of the blood, hematopoietic and lymphatic systems by benzene.
With regard to Nos. 11 01 to 11 10, 12 01 and 12 02, 13 03 to 13 09 and 13 15: skin diseases are excepted, although they are included in the table only when they are symptoms of a general disease caused by the intake of harmful agents by the body or when they are compensable under No. 51 01
2 – Diseases caused by physical agents
21- -Mechanical effects
21 01	Diseases of the synovial sheaths or peritendinous tissue and tendon or muscle insertions which have required the discontinuance of any activity which was or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
21 02	Injuries to meniscus due to overuse of knee joints after prolonged exposure over several years or frequent repetitive exposure
21 03	Conditions caused by vibration of pneumatic or similarly acting tools
21 04	Circulatory disorders in the hands due to vibrations and having required the abandonment of all activities that were or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
21 05	Chronic diseases of the bursa by prolonged local pressure
21 06	Nerve paralysis due to prolonged local pressure
21 07	Fractures of the vertebral spinous processes
21 08	Pronounced abrasion of teeth by silica dust
21 09	Gonarthrosis caused by kneeling or comparable loading of the knee after a cumulative lifetime exposure of at least 13,000 hours and a minimum exposure of one hour per workstation and requiring cessation of all activities which were or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
22 – Compressed air
22 01	Diseases caused by working with compressed air
23 – Noise
23 01	Occupational noise-induced hearing loss consisting of at least 40% hearing loss
24 – Rayons
24 01	Cataracte due au rayonnement thermique
24 02	Maladies provoquées par les rayons ionisants
3 – Maladies professionnelles infectieuses ou parasitaires ainsi que les maladies tropicales
31 01	Maladies infectieuses, si l’assuré travaille dans un établissement ou un service s’occupant de la prophylaxie, du diagnostic et du traitement des maladies contagieuses, ou si l’assuré est particulièrement exposé à des risques similaires de contagion, en raison de son activité professionnelle
31 02	Maladies transmissibles des animaux à l’homme
31 03	Maladies parasitaires des mineurs par ankylostome duodénal ou anguillule intestinale
31 04	Maladies tropicales, fièvre pourprée
4 – Diseases caused by mineral dusts
41 – Diseases caused by inorganic dusts
41 01	Silicosis
41 02	Silicosis in association with pulmonary tuberculosis
41 03	Asbestosis or asbestos dust disease of the pleura
41 04	Lung cancer and cancer of the larynx in association with asbestosis, in association with a pleural lesion or where the effect of a cumulative occupational asbestos fibre dose of at least 25 fibre years [(25 x 106 fibres/m3) x years] is established
41 05	Mesothelioma of the pleura, peritoneum or pericardium caused by asbestos
41 06	Diseases of the deep respiratory tract or lungs caused by aluminium or its compounds
41 07	Pulmonary fibrosis caused by hard metal dusts during the manufacture or processing of these metals
41 08	Deep airway and lung diseases by Thomas slag
41 09	Neoformations of the respiratory tract and lungs by nickel or its compounds
41 10	Lung cancer caused by crystalline silicon dioxide (Si02) in association with established silicosis or silico-tuberculosis
41 11	Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-induced lung cancer where a cumulative dose effect of at least 100 benzo[a]pyrene years [(µg/m 3) x years] is established.
41 12	Lung cancer caused by the interaction of asbestos dust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons where the effect of a cumulative dose which is likely to cause the disease with at least a 50% probability according to the annexed table is established
41 13	Pulmonary fibrosis caused by extreme and prolonged exposure to welding fumes and gases (siderofibrosis)
42 – Diseases caused by organic dusts
42 01	Extrinsic allergic alveolitis requiring cessation of all activities that have been or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
42 03	Adenocarcinoma of the nasal cavities and fossae due to wood dusts
43 – Obstructive airway diseases
43 01	Obstructive airway diseases (including rhinitis) caused by allergenic substances which have required the cessation of all activities which have been or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
43 02	Obstructive diseases of the respiratory tract caused by chemically irritating or toxic substances which have required the abandonment of all activities which have been or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
5 – Skin conditions
51 01	Severe or recurrent skin conditions which have required discontinuation of any activity which was or may be causally related to the origin, aggravation or recurrence of the disease
51 02	Skin neoformations or cancers after handling and using lampblack, heavy paraffin, coal tar, anthracene, resins or other carcinogenic substances

Who should report the occupational disease and how soon?

Doctors are responsible for reporting occupational diseases to the Accident Insurance Association as soon as they have a well-founded suspicion that an illness has its determining cause in the insured professional activity. 

If a report is made, they submit a copy of it to patients. 

If doctors fail to report the disease, the insured persons may claim compensation for an occupational disease, on pain of forfeiture, within one year from the day on which they became aware of the occupational origin of the disease.