Occupational disease

Occupational disease or illness is a disease that has likely been caused by the employee’s exposure to physical, chemical or biological factors through their work.

An occupational disease is considered to have appeared at a time when the person first sought medical treatment from a doctor due to the occupational disease diagnosed at the time or later.

Diagnosing an occupational disease

Diagnosing an occupational disease usually requires that

• it is commonly known for the exposure to lead to such an illness
• the disease of the examined person has likely been caused by this exposure.

When a doctor has diagnosed an occupational disease, they must report it to the occupational safety and health administration (Regional State Administrative Agency) and the register of occupational illnesses (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health).

The employer must notify their insurance company of the occupational illness.

Compensation for an occupational illness

Compensation must be paid for an occupational illness in accordance with the Employment Accidents Insurance Act. The employee is entitled to the same compensation and allowances as employees in work accidents.

The due date for applying for compensation will always be counted from the moment the illness has been diagnosed or the incapacity for work has started. The Finnish Government Decree on the List of Occupational Diseases lists the occupational illnesses and diseases that are compensated, but this list is not comprehensive.

If you suspect you may have an occupational disease:

If you suspect you may have an occupational disease, proceed by:

• contacting your occupational healthcare services and your occupational health and safety representative. The examinations and treatment of work-related symptoms and suspected occupational diseases are covered by occupational healthcare services.
• If necessary, the occupational healthcare services will refer you to further examinations at the central hospital or the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health/the occupational health institute in your region.
• If you suspect that your symptoms may be due to your work or the work facilities, make sure that this is also stated in your client records.

Nursing and education personnel often have to request access to occupational disease examinations, so remember to be active and determined if you feel like you are not being heard at first.

In addition to your occupational healthcare doctor, another doctor familiar with your working conditions or a specialist in a hospital suspecting an illness caused by work may give you a referral.

Occupational healthcare services should, based on the workplace reviews, have information about the exposures of the work, the health risks at the workplace and a view of the potential causes of the occupational disease.

The occupational healthcare services should report all suspected cases of occupational illnesses and diseases to the occupational health and safety personnel and keep systematic statistics of both suspected and diagnosed cases for monitoring purposes. When a suspicion of an occupational disease is well-founded, the workplace and the occupational healthcare services should take measures to prevent or at least lessen the exposure.

• Contact your employer as early on as possible, you can bring an occupational safety and health representative with you to the discussions as your support person.
• If you cannot gain access to the occupational disease examinations, you can contact the SuPer advocacy services.

Occupational asthma

It is likely that some occupational asthma cases remain undetected. Identifying occupational diseases is important for the treatment of employees/patients and for preventing new cases of illness.

Asthma aggravated by work is more common than occupational asthma. In these cases, reducing the work-based exposure to factors aggravating asthma is important, in addition to the good treatment of asthma.

The professionals of nursing and educational sectors often work in buildings with moisture damage, and it is possible that they are exposed to the detrimental effects of moisture damage, such as asthma and other respiratory infections.