Reduce the average processing time for occupational disease claims from 7 months to 4 months... Simplify procedures if causality is recognized

[Financial News] The labor authorities have presented a blueprint to reduce the average processing time for occupational disease claims from the current approximately 7 months (227.7 days) to about 4 months (120 days) by 2027. The plan is to significantly reduce procedures for occupational diseases with substantial causality between work and illness.
 
 The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 1st a plan to shorten the processing time for occupational disease claims. This plan is one of the rapid promotion tasks proposed by the Presidential National Planning Committee.
 The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to significantly reduce the processing time by omitting procedures such as special examinations or epidemiological investigations for cases where substantial causality between work and illness is confirmed.

 First, for musculoskeletal diseases, which account for the largest proportion (51%) of all occupational diseases, the plan is to skip special examination procedures for occupations where the disease frequently occurs and a database (DB) has been accumulated. The plan is to shorten the processing time for occupational disease claims by omitting the average period (166.3 days) additionally required for special examinations.
 Instead, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service will conduct a disaster investigation and have the relevance to work reviewed by the judgment committee. The authorities plan to expand this to occupations proposed at the site, such as system scaffolders and waterproofers in the construction industry, by collecting opinions from labor and management experts.
 The plan is to omit the request for an epidemiological investigation in cases where research and investigation on substantial causality between disease and harmful substances have been sufficiently conducted to confirm work relevance. This includes primary lung cancer in mining workers and leukemia in semiconductor manufacturing workers. The current additional period required for epidemiological investigations is an average of 604.4 days.
 In addition, the Ministry of Employment and Labor plans not to have the judgment committee review work relevance again for cases where work relevance has already been confirmed.
 The plan is to actively utilize the 'presumption application' that virtually acknowledges the relationship between disease and work and gradually expand the scope of application.
 The labor authorities have decided to supplement the work procedures after disapproval of occupational disease claims. To this end, they plan to introduce a public representative system for disaster workers next year.

 The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to establish dedicated organizations and personnel to strengthen disaster investigation functions and ensure prompt processing.
 Dedicated organizations will be established within the corporation for musculoskeletal diseases (64 regional headquarters and branches), occupational cancers, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (1 Seoul headquarters), which account for the majority of claimed diseases.
 The plan is to make the training process for disaster investigation experts (CIE) mandatory to enhance expertise and to recruit additional disaster investigation personnel.
 The plan is to build an artificial intelligence (AI) system that provides guidelines for occupational disease judgment based on accumulated past occupational disease judgment data.
 Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said, "This measure responds to the voices of workers who have suffered inconvenience due to delays in the processing time for occupational disease claims," adding, "It was prepared to promptly guarantee the rights of workers who have applied for occupational disease claims and have had to wait for years with painful bodies." He added, "We will do our best to fulfill the original role of the system, which is 'prompt and fair occupational disease compensation,' the core value of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act."


jhyuk@fnnews.com Kim Jun-hyuk Reporter