The concept and meaning of Occupational disease : The Legal issues

Compared to accident cases , the attention to occupational disease was not very much given in the field ofindustrial safety. In many instances, disease cases were regarded as part of accident cases. As such, the disease cases were included as part ofthe acCidents statistics used in this countly. The formal statistics shows that disease cases form only a small part of the overall claims. The rest are cases of accidents at the workplace or commuting accidents. Therefore, a question arose whether a rigid interpretation is given to the term occupational disease similar to the meaning of accidents. Does that result in the small number ofclaims made by insurers? Further, how can we give a better opportunity for them to succeed in claims for occupational diseases? Should a separate platform be made available to disease and accident claims in order to give a better chance to succeed in disease claims? Are the claims permitted for the diseases listed in the Act only? Hence, an analysis will be made on the existing Malaysian legal provisions and some other views on the interpretation of health generally and to occupational disease specifically. Further, this article will discuss the differences between accident and disease and suggest the interpretation of the occupational disease phrase to be liberalised to give some discretionary power to the court or the authoritative body to decide.