석면노출 근로자에 대한 산재보상의 규율과 문제점

A Study on the Legal Attitude of Workers' Compensation toward Occupational Exposure to Asbestos and the related Matters

The devastating health effects of asbestos-related diseases have been conclusively established these days for factory workers, product users, and everybody actually. Three diseases are associated with asbestos exposure in general: asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Asbestos-related injuries are widespread as well as severe. Currently about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the workplace. According to global estimates at least 90,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases resulting from occupational exposures. In addition, it is believed that several thousands of deaths can be attributed to other asbestos-relateddiseases as well as to non-occupational exposures to asbestos. However, despite a decrease in asbestos use with the reason of legal prohibition, the number of diagnosed & damaged cases continues to rise given the long latency period associated with asbestos-related diseases. In this situation this article treats the current regulations of workers' compensation regarding occupational exposures to asbestos and proffers the legislative improvement related in order to provide better compensation for employees focused on Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act.