Industrial disease is any disease which has been caused by the occupation that you are employed in. This may be a repetitive strain injury, a chemical disease, and deafness. The government provides benefits for individuals who have gained an injury due to their work. However, it must be noted that benefit cannot be claimed should you have been self employed when you contracted the disease or disorder.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit is provided to people who suffer from any of a list of around 70 diseases, disabilities or disorders. This list is readily available from your local Job Centre Plus or online on the government website.
The amount of benefit an individual can receive is dependent on the severity of their disability and their age. Whether or not they have any dependants is also taken into account within the assessment, benefits that are already being received by the individual may change when they begin to claim this benefit as well.
Benefit is provided for the following:
1. Leukaemia – this may have resulted from repeated exposure to radiation: working in an x-ray department in a hospital or in the nuclear industry
2. Cataracts which have resulted from prolonged exposure to heat radiation from red or white hot metal.
3. Diseases such as the bends which are caused by pressure changes, tunnel workers, miners or underwater workers are at risk of diseases such as this.
4. Occupational deafness
5. Loss of fingers due to machinery or other machinery related amputations
6. Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS): patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome experience numbness, burning and/or tingling in the fingers and thumbs. Sometimes they may also feel pain the wrists or loss of grip.
7. Osteoarthiritis of the hip or knee: benefits may be claimable for individuals who have been in an industry such as agriculture or mining for 10 years or more and in carpet laying for 20 years or more.
8. Lung Diseases – asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis.
9. Hepatitis’s A, B and C.
10. Contact with certain chemicals which have led to toxicity of the central nervous system, liver or kidneys, peripheral neuropathy, emphysema, primary carcinomas, dermatitis and more.
11. Issues linked contact with asbestos.
For a specific breakdown of the instances in which you will be able to make a benefit claim, read the in-depth guidelines in the government’s downloadable manual here.
Each disease is also assessed in terms of the amount of disability which has resulted from its contraction. This disability level is laid out in a 1-100 scale with those at 100 on the scale receiving the highest amount of benefits for their disorder.