Occupational disease

An occupational disease is any recognized chronic ailment that is known to occur in a given body of workers in a given industry at a rate far higher than occurs in the general population, and includes diseases that are only known among workers in a given industry and no-where else (such as Black Lung Disease among coal miners). It excludes occupational hazards that are of a traumatic nature that are common in an industry (such as falls by roofers). Under the law of workers' compensation, there is a presumption that an occupational disease was caused by the worker being in the environment and the burden is on the employer or insurer to show that the disease came about from another cause. The fact that not all long term workers in the industry develop the disease is not considered an effective argument that the disease came from another cause.