ABSTRACT
The common understanding of work-related diseases was that the responsibility for prevention was largely that of the worker to protect themselves. During the 1920s and 1930s, there was increasing awareness about the health effects of free silica in coal and hard-rock miners, and also the risk to workers in the asbestos textile industry. Many state government requirements included a timeline for minimal exposure before the worker was considered to have a sufficient exposure to receive compensation. Different countries responded differently to the recognition of asbestosis as a work-related disease. Since the advent of a new round of plaintiff lawsuits in the mid-to-late 1970s, state workers’ compensation systems have been more amenable to accepting workers’ compensation claims for injury. Workers pay a certain amount of money out of their paycheck that is matched by the employer to pay for insurance related to workers’ compensation for future work-related claims.
