What counts as an occupational disease?
The answer is not in the Labour Code itself, but in Government Regulation No. 290/1995 Coll., establishing the list of occupational diseases.
Section 1 of that regulation says:
(1) Occupational diseases are diseases arising from the adverse effects of chemical, physical, biological or other harmful influences, provided they arose under the conditions set out in the list of occupational diseases. An occupational disease also means acute poisoning arising from the adverse effects of chemical substances.
(2) Occupational diseases are set out in the list of occupational diseases, which forms the annex to this regulation.
What does that mean in practice?
That unlike work injuries, which form an open-ended set and may involve any damage to health arising in connection with the performance of work as a result of an accident event, only an illness named in the list of occupational diseases can be an occupational disease.
What does the list of occupational diseases look like?
The list is in the annex to that government regulation. It is not a mere catalogue of diagnoses, but a system that:
- divides illnesses into chapters by type (caused by chemicals, caused by physical factors, skin diseases and so on),
- within the chapters divides illnesses further into items according to their clinical nature (diseases caused by lead, diseases caused by mercury, tendon disorders and so on),
- and sets out the conditions under which the particular disease must have arisen (exposure to a given chemical at a certain level, overloading of certain muscle structures at a certain intensity and so on).
How is an occupational disease proved?
A diagnosis from a general practitioner is not enough. Assessing and recognising an occupational disease is a multi-stage and time-consuming process, which always involves
- a specialised occupational medicine clinic, of which there are only a limited number, and
- the regional public health authority.
These institutions then assess together:
- whether the employee’s illness can be an occupational disease from the list, and
- whether the employee really did work under the conditions in which that occupational disease arises.
If the answer to both questions is yes, the occupational medicine clinic issues a report recognising the occupational disease.
Who is liable for an occupational disease?
Liability for the harm lies with the employer for whom the employee last worked under the conditions in which the given occupational disease arises. So if the employee did similar work for several employers in a row, there is no need to establish with whom the disease arose “the most” — the last employer at whose workplace those conditions were met is liable.
Recognition is not the end of the road
As with a work injury, recognition of an occupational disease is only the first step towards obtaining compensation.
The individual claims for compensation have to be properly quantified, supported by evidence and brought against the liable employer. From practice we know that this process is rarely straightforward.
