HD34 - Dermatitis in the Tire Manufacturing Industry
Executive Summary: Joint House Resolution 154 requested the Industrial Commission of Virginia to determine whether dermatitis contracted in the tire manufacturing industry is an occupational disease under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. Contact dermatitis is recognized in Virginia as an occupational disease under the Workers' Compensation Act and benefits are awarded when the medical evidence and the history of exposure in the workplace show the disease to have had its origin in the employment. Our law does not distinguish between contact dermatitis and other occupational diseases in terms of compensability or benefits. In 1986, the General Assembly provided for compensability of ordinary diseases of life which are shown to be caused by the employment. This provision includes occupational dermatitis as a compensable injury under the Act. Dermatitis, whether contracted by employees of tire manufacturers or other industries, constitutes a minute proportion of injuries reported to the Industrial Commission. Of 168,702 incidents of injury reported by all employers in 1989, only 8 involved dermatitis. In an eight-year period from 1982 through 1989, employees of the tire manufacturing industry accounted for only 5 of 125 reported dermatitis cases. Only 2 of the 5 cases from the tire manufacturing industry were disputed claims. Statistical information and experience suggest that contact dermatitis does not present a significant source of litigation or controversy in administration of the Workers' Compensation Act in Virginia. Because the origin of contact dermatitis may be in a non-industrial or industrial setting, questions which arise as to compensability are nearly always matters of medical proof. Claims are awarded when dermatitis is shown to be caused by the employment. |
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