Proper compensation for the damaged worker

Our plain-English summary of Proper compensation for the damaged worker, by J.A. Adam (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1979).

The study

• Author: J.A. Adam
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 1979;330:597-600
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 003989).

In plain English

This was a short opinion paper, not a research study. The author presented it on a panel at a New York Academy of Sciences conference, and it reported no data. The author argued that asbestos should be considered alongside other workplace health hazards, and that the central unresolved question was how to compensate workers with job-related disease and their families. The author wrote that organized labor saw workers' compensation benefits as generally inadequate and its procedures as too bureaucratic. According to the author, proving a job-related disease was very difficult and usually required a lawyer, and compensation sometimes went to survivors because the worker died during the process. The author added that product liability and gross negligence suits could take as long or longer. The author proposed that a worker diagnosed with a disease caused by a job-site chemical become immediately eligible for workers' compensation. A federal fund, paid for by manufacturers of hazardous materials as a percentage of total sales, would replace all lost wages and fringe benefits. The author also argued that the American public should share the cost.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Opinion paper (conference panel presentation); no original data
• Who was studied: No population was studied; the paper discusses American workers with job-related diseases and the workers' compensation system
• Exposure: Asbestos, discussed together with other workplace health hazards such as coal dust and cotton dust; no fiber types or doses specified
• Main results:
  • The author's stated view (opinion, not data): organized labor considered workers' compensation benefits generally inadequate and its eligibility procedures too bureaucratic
  • The author's stated view: proving a job-related disease claim was very difficult, nearly always required a lawyer, and compensation often went to survivors
  • The author's stated view: product liability and gross negligence suits could take as long as or longer than the workers' compensation process
• The authors' conclusion: The author proposed immediate no-fault workers' compensation eligibility on diagnosis of a job-related chemical disease. A federal fund financed by manufacturers of hazardous materials, based on a percentage of total sales, would replace all lost wages and fringe benefits. The author also argued that the public should share the cost, with the federal government compensating workers and recovering costs from liable parties if others did not.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Approach to asbestos worker compensation plan alleged to be flawed — K.T. Kelsey, D.C. Christiani (1985)
• Mesothelioma incidence surveillance systems and claims for workers' compensation. Epidemiological evidence and prospects for an integrated framework — A. Marinaccio, A. Scarselli, et al. (2012)
• Surveillance of mesothelioma and workers' compensation in British Columbia, Canada — T.L. Kirkham, M.W. Koehoorn, et al. (2011)
• Workers' compensation for nonmalignant asbestos-related lung disease — C. Nevitt, W. Daniell, et al. (1994)
• Analysis of mortality patterns and workers' compensation awards among asbestos insulation workers in Ontario — M.M. Finkelstein (1989)
• Filing for workers' compensation among Ontario cases of mesothelioma — J.I. Payne, E. Pichora (2009)

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