An occupational disease is an illness caused or made worse by workplace exposures, such as silicosis, hearing loss or dermatitis, often appearing years later.
An occupational disease is an illness or health condition caused or made worse by exposures or conditions at work, such as chemicals, dusts, noise, radiation, biological agents or repetitive physical stress. Unlike most injuries, which result from a single event, occupational diseases usually develop over months or years, and some, such as mesothelioma or silicosis, may not appear until decades after exposure. That delay makes them harder to link to work and more likely to be underreported.
A stonemason who cut engineered stone countertops for several years without wet cutting or dust collection is diagnosed with silicosis. The employer's air monitoring records and medical surveillance results help establish that the disease is work related.
An injury usually results from a single event, such as a fall or cut, while an occupational disease develops from repeated or long-term exposure to a hazard. OSHA records both but classifies them separately.
Symptoms can appear years after exposure, workers may change jobs in the meantime, and many diseases also have non-work causes, making it hard for doctors and employers to connect them to work.
Generally yes, if the disease is shown to arise out of employment, though rules for proving work-relatedness and filing deadlines vary by state.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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