|
Module 3: Toxicology -
Section 7:
Legal Aspects |
TOX 7.3: COIDA Lecture |
COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL
INJURIES AND DISEASES ACT, 130 of 1993
Contents:
- History
- Administration
- Coverage
- Benefits
- Claims procedure: injuries
- Claims procedure: diseases
- Occupational diseases - general
- Third Schedule - some examples
- Recourse
- Problems with the system
History:
Six laws, many amendments since
1914.
Historical shifts over time:
- common law ®
statute
* "historical compromise"
- voluntary ®
compulsory
- private ®
state
* 2 private assurers: mining (Rand Mutual) and building (Fedsure)
- injuries ®
diseases
Administration:
Coverage:
Yes:
- Casual labour
- Employees in employer's
vehicle
- Farmworkers
- Employees of unregistered
employers ( 1 m.+ ,mainly small employers)
No:
- Domestic workers in private
homes
- Defence, police while on
"defence" service
Benefits:
- Yes:
- Medical expenses
- Wage replacement:
- Temporary disablement
(if > 3 days)
(NB: Employer must pay 75% of wages up front for 3 months and claim
back. After 3 months, employee must receive directly from Commissioner)
- Permanent disablement
- Death expenses (widow
pension; funeral)
- No:
- Pain and suffering
- Unemployment
Claims procedure: injuries
Worker,
supervisor informs employer of injury
Employer completes Employer's Report of an Accident
Employee gets (private) medical care
Doctor completes First Medical Report of an Accident
Employer sends forms to Compensation Commissioner
Doctor completes Progress Reports and/or Final Report, sends to
Commissioner (or employer)
Employer completes Resumption Report
Commissioner (or insurer) pays medical expenses and disablement if any
Claims procedure: occupational
diseases
Doctor
makes diagnosis, informs employee
Doctor completes First Medical Report of an O.D.,
informs employer
Employer completes Employer's Report of an O.D.,
sends with First Medical to Compensation Commissioner
Employee gets (?private) medical care
Doctor completes Progress Reports and/or Final Report of an O.D.,
sends to Commissioner
Commissioner decides on acceptance and disablement, pays medical
expenses and disablement if any
Occupational diseases -
general:
-
Third Schedule
-
Unscheduled:
- AIDS following
needlestick injury - if incident recorded
- Post-traumatic stress
disorder - if meets criteria
- Carpal tunnel syndrome -
sometimes - unclear
- Chronic back pain -
unlikely if no incident
- Stress induced heart
attack - ?untested
- Differences from injury
which make compensation difficult:
- Diagnostic uncertainty
regarding cause - often multicausal
- Exposures in past -
latency period until disease appears
- Exposures mixed or obscure
- no single agent
- Doctor, not employer,
initiated
Third schedule: some examples
Refer: Third
Schedule of
COIDA
- Occupational
asthma
- Tuberculosis
of the lung
- silica exposed
- health care workers
- Hearing
impairment (Instruction 71)
- "Any
disease or pathological manifestation due to"
- Metals
- Solvents
- Hydrocarbons
- Any
compound of above
- Any
disease due to overstraining of muscular tendonous insertions
due to repetitive movements
Recourse
-
Objections
(sec. 91)
- Within 90 days of
receiving decision.
- In writing
-
Re-opening
claim
- Deterioration
- AND
treatment will assist rehabilitation
-
Extra
compensation (sec. 56)
- Negligence must be shown
- Administrative, not
judicial hearing
Problems with the system
-
Commissioner'
s office
- Inefficient - delays,
mislaid documents
- Unresponsive
- Lacks expertise
- Lack of criteria for
most diseases
- Injury oriented
-
Injuries
- Injury not recorded or
reported (12 month expiry) by employer
- Inadequate medical
reports, e.g. Final Report too early, or doesn’t fully
reflect disability
- Diseases
- Underdiagnosed
- Not worked up properly -
inadequate medical reports
- Uncooperative employers
Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (DOH) - Modules 3:
Occupational Medicine & Toxicology (Basic) by Profs Mohamed
Jeebhay and Rodney
Ehrlich,
Health
Sciences UCT is licensed under a
Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa License.
Major contributors: Mohamed Jeebhay, Rodney Ehrlich, Jonny Myers,
Leslie London, Sophie Kisting, Rajen Naidoo, Saloshni Naidoo. Source available
from here.
For any updates to the material, or more permissions beyond the scope
of this license, please email healthoer@uct.ac.za
or visit www.healthedu.uct.ac.za.
Last updated Jan 2007.
Disclaimer note: Some resources and descriptions may be out-dated. For
suggested updates and feedback, please contact healthoer@uct.ac.za.