Breathe Easy: Making Sense of Occupational Disease

Occupational diseases are a low probability, high severity exposure which often takes years or even decades to develop. As such, these exposures may not be recognized as a significant health hazard and can often go uncontrolled leading to catastrophic outcomes for employees, their families as well as the employer. Some of these exposures, once realized, may also have devastating impacts industry-wide.

From a worker’s compensation insurance standpoint, different jurisdictions view compensability differently further complicating the matter. Some exposures are recognized at a Federal level, others are not. There are various regulatory and consensus standards employers must content with which can lead to confusion and inaction.

This presentation will review examples of how various jurisdictions view compensability, occupational disease litigation, common occupational disease exposures in industry, regulatory and consensus standards, and how Chubb Risk Engineering Services works with clients to identify, evaluate, and control occupational disease exposures.