Occupational Diseases –An Overview

In United States , in the 2004 census over for fatal injuries per 100,000 workers occurred and over 4 million illness , non- fatal and injuries and countless other unreported accidents occurred.

The term occupational disease leads to confusion the workers who think that they are suffering from work related disease. Occupational Disease can be defined as a chronic ailment occurring at a higher rate for workers as compared to normal population. For example- people who are exposed to radioactive elements at nuclear plants suffer from radiation sickness. Construction workers exposed to asbestos suffers from asbestosis and among file clerks and typists carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly found. Work related accidents are not related to occupational disease.

The basic right of the workers is to work in healthy and safe environment. If employers are aware of the hazardous effects of chemicals, minimize the effect of these substances. It is their responsibility to warn the workers and provide them with safety equipments. Unfortunately in most of the cases diseases caused by such exposures have a long incubation period. Therefore, these symptoms do not appear for years and even decades and thus they can be termed as silent killer. Workers suffering from occupational illness have the right to sue the employer for the disease caused at the employer’s workplace.

Legal Help for Occupational Disease

The workers exposed to occupational exposure and suffering from the side effects of such exposure must seek legal assistance for the compensation of the damages caused to them. The internet is a hub of information for the workers suffering from occupational disease. Injured workers should consult an experienced lawyer dealing with the work related injuries to determine whether their claims are strong enough to be compensated or not. Before consulting a lawyer seek the advice of doctor so that you may not only recover soon but also successfully file a watertight case against the company or the industry.

History of Occupational Diseases and Safety at Workplace

Exposure to occupational disease is common among people. In United States, approximately 860,000 workers fell ill and 60,300 die from occupational exposure every year. According to studies conducted by American Family Physician, 75 per cent of the people hospitalized are exposed to hazardous substances and 17 per cent of them suspects that their disease is related to occupational exposure.

Workers have been struggling for healthy and safe work environment since the beginning of industrialization in the west. Exposure to asbestos, chemicals, welding rod fumes, pesticides, silica and other hazardous substances causes dangerous diseases and problems like lung ailments, blood disorders, birth defects, various forms of cancer and pregnancy complications.

This fight for safe and healthy work environment is not new. It as old as centuries. This struggle for safety at workplace led to the formation of organized labor. Workers first organize at Germany about 800 years ago.

Medication for Occupational Disease

Around the issues related to the safety in the workplace, a complete Medicare developed. An Italian physician, Dr. Bernardino Ramazzini is known as the father of Occupational Medicine. He was the first person to recommend that while discussing medical history with a patient, doctor should ask him about his profession or occupation.

He said, “Medicine like jurisprudence should make a contribution to the well- being of workers”. Dr. Ramazzini never waited for his patients to visit him. He visited the mines and workshops where workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals.

He established the fact that the skin color of the workers at mines was same to the color of lead they were exposed to. He discovered that many workers were paralyzed due to the prolonged exposure to metal.

Workers Compensation Laws and Safety

The industrial revolution in the United States brought up many issues related to workers safety at workplace. Until the 20th century, labor movements were small and there was no or little attention given on the plight of workers. Two events in the span of 11 years lead to the public outrage and later on, reforms.

A strike by the workers at meatpacking industry was crushed in Chicago in 1904. After this event, an activist and the writer Upton Sinclair settled in Chicago and got involved with the lives of the workers at meatpacking industry. This resulted into a novel, Jungle. The novel told in detail and depth the horrible working conditions at meatpacking industry.

Sinclair wanted to create public sympathy for the workers exploited at meatpacking plants. However, the opposite happened. The book led to the concern about the safety of meat supply. At that time, Sinclair said, “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”

It took few more years for the public to understand the plight of workers .And it happened in tragic circumstances.

The tragic incident took place in March 1911 at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory situated in the New York City. In this accident, 146 workers, most of them women died, as they were locked in the factory and thus were unable to escape the flames. This one incident changed the history. Department of Labor described it as a seminal event and as important as the  “minutemen at Lexington and Concord, as John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, as Rosa Parks refusing to go to the back of the bus, and as Joan of Arc on the flaming stake.”

The Triangle fire led to the public outrage, which in turn resulted in the true reforms. Compensation laws for workers were passed for the first time. Around the same time, Industrial Fire Safety Codes were also instituted.

For many years, center of focus was garment industry. Its workers were the victims of Tuberculosis, one of the scourges of 20th century. For 16 hours, a day, workers inhaled sweatshop air. Gradually this exposure weakened their lung. As TB is contagious workers families were also affected.

A Joint Board of Sanitary Control was formed. Its member were the representative from employers, public and union. It was the first health center operated by trade union in United States. It became model for other unions also.

Around the same time, the priority for labors was occupational health. Job strike was the weapon used by union members to enforce compensation laws fort workers. The Workers’ Health Bureau of America was formed in 1920’s.

Occupational Safety and Health Act

It was during the Great Depression time that new strategies for the safety of the workers were formed. The worst industrial disaster at Gauley Bridge in West Virginia led to a wave of litigation. In 1935, hundreds of workers building the tunnel died due to exposure of silica.

Silicosis is a silent killer as it takes many years to develop. However, in this case, the condition in the tunnel was so bad that workers were infected within months of the exposure. Investigation revealed that engineers and company officials wore mask and other safety equipments on their visit to tunnel. However, they failed or neglected to provide safety equipment to the workers. This resulted to the mass litigation.

In March 1970, Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed by the Congress. Ever since the OSHA was passed, business community has been attacking it. Lack of funding and weak enforcement capacity are the major problems faced by OSHA.

The creation of OSHA ensures the right to safe and healthy working environment for the workers. Employers who failed to provide this right faced opposition and allegation from labor movement and employees. When OSHA regulated work settings, its goal was focused on the rules governing employers. Due to the limitations on the Federal regulators, cases were filed against companies making or producing defective products and faulty equipments for the use in the workplace.

Herbert Abrams, in his book ,Short History of Occupational Health, said, “It is important to recognize that throughout the often tragic history of worker health and disease, the worker played a primary role as the basis for every significant improvement in legislation, factory inspection, compensation, correction and prevention. Abraham said that “labor unrest, protests, strikes, lawsuits and catastrophes were vital catalysts to obtaining action. Organized labor has been the essential factor central to most workplace health and safety improvements — from the industrial revolution to the present.”

Occupational Safety and Heath Act and New Challenges

Today workers face challenges regularly. Globalization has made the operations and working of an organization lean and mean. Pressure at the workplace is continuously increasing. During negotiation, employers say, “take it or we leave you”.

Labor Institute at New York describes it in an ominous way. The results of the four horsemen at the workplace are working conditions and regressive pressures on pay. These four horsemen are- automation, downsizing, globalization and rise in the use of temporary workers.

With the continuous increase in population, role of labor union is growing. Unions are important to men and women who have retired. The safety and welfare of such individuals is vital to unions.

The Legal Profession and Union have together made the workplace safer for the employees.  Over the years, litigation has played a very important role in providing precautions to workers. These precautions include warning bells on equipments, guards on dangerous machines and strict OSHA regulations on asbestos and other hazardous chemicals. Because of these safety regulations workers are successfully performing their tasks and companies are forced to provide safety equipments to workers.