Silicosis and workers' compensation in New Jersey

Details

• Personal Author:
  Joyce P ; Kipen H ; Stanbury, Martha
• Description:
  The employer is expected to maintain responsibility for health care expenses and lost income that result from occupational injury and illness through the workers' compensation insurance system. However, financial support for individuals with occupational illnesses, especially those with long latency, is often from sources other than workers' compensation. Silicosis, a well defined, chronic, occupational lung disease, can be viewed as a sentinel for the inadequacy of the public policy to compensate workers for chronic occupational lung disease. Three hundred twenty-nine patients with confirmed silicosis were identified by the silicosis surveillance program in the New Jersey Department of Health using source data from 1979 through 1992. One hundred seventy-seven of these individuals provided information on the status of any compensation claims against their employer. Only 31% of these patients stated that a claim had been filed; 84 % of those whose claims were settled were awarded payments. Severity of radiologic findings was not associated with the likelihood of filing a claim or with being awarded a payment; whereas, smoking was associated with these outcomes. The implications of these findings for the health care system are discussed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Epidemiology Hazardous Substances Lung Men Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Smokers Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Diseases Exposure-levels Health-hazards Humans Morbidity-rates Mortality-data Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiration Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors Silicosis Smoking Surveillance-programs Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  37
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043691
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 1995 Dec; 37(12):1342-1347
• Contact Point Address:
  Martha Stanbury, MSPH, Occupational Health Service, New Jersey Department of Health, CN 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360
• CAS Registry Number:
  Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19920930
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20060929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2b76a0a890064c7f7cb0312c04b51f9be79417dd7155d027191e1d51f95dd625ebfb600021b3078421c98b22b890b87cf5813def9944f69538e98ec116a4dadc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195525/cdc_195525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.65 MB ]