Occupational Safety and Health Series, No. 74
List of occupational diseases (revised 2010). Identification and recognition of occupational diseases: Criteria for incorporating diseases in the ILO list of occupational diseases
The number of physical, chemical, biological and psychosocial factors affecting workers’ health is constantly on the rise. The ILO has been responding to the challenge of creating safe and healthy working conditions since its founding in 1919. Agreed by governments as well as employers’ and workers’ organizations, this new list, approved in March 2010, reflects the state of the art in the identification and recognition of occupational diseases. The list, annexed here to the List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation, 2002 (No. 194), is designed to assist countries in their prevention, recording, notification and, if applicable, compensation of diseases caused by work.
The new list includes a range of internationally recognized occupational diseases, from illnesses caused by chemical, physical and biological agents to respiratory and skin diseases, musculoskeletal disorders and occupational cancer. Mental and behavioural disorders have been, for the first time, specifically included in the ILO list. The list also has open items in all the sections dealing with the aforementioned diseases. The open items allow for the recognition of the occupational origin of diseases not specified in the list if a link is established between exposure to risk factors arising from work activities and the disorders contracted by the worker.
This publication includes the newly established list of occupational diseases, the working document “Identification and recognition of occupational diseases: Criteria for incorporating diseases in the ILO list of occupational diseases”, and the reports of the two Meetings of Experts which developed this list.
This publication includes the newly established list of occupational diseases, the working document “Identification and recognition of occupational diseases: Criteria for incorporating diseases in the ILO list of occupational diseases”, and the reports of the two Meetings of Experts which developed this list.