With the increase in awareness of work safety, people have gradually realized that all occupations have more or less health risks. For such diseases related to occupational exposure, the professional abbreviation term used by occupational medicine specialists are:"occupational injury" and "occupational disease" . Because of the different classifications of workers' illnesses, subsequent managing processes are also different (such as clarifying causality, applying for subsidies, etc.). Knowing these in advance will save a lot of time and energy! The following is a direct list of the differences between the two:

【The difference between Occupational Injuries and Occupational Diseases】

Occupational Injury

Representation: Health disorders caused by occupational exposures for ashort time.
Causality determination:easy

An Occupational Disease is usually caused bya single event, such as: car accident, fall from height, crush injury, cut injury, fire, one-time exposure of toxic substances, etc. Since the occurrence of the incident is relatively clear, if there is actual supporting evidence (such as: medical records, on-site monitoring video, etc.), the information that needs to be provided is relatively simple in the subsequent application for the qualification of occupational compensation.The determination of causality usually "does not need" the assistance of occupational medical doctors. You can apply for it directly to the Labor Insurance Bureau.

Occupational Disease

Representation: Health disorders caused by occupational exposures for along time.
Causality determination:difficult

An Occupational Disease is usually caused byexposure to long-term occupational health risks, such as: repetitive actions in the production line, excessive load for a long time, long-term exposure to toxic substances in the environment, excessive working hours, etc. In clarifying the causal relationship between occupational exposure and disease, a large amount of assessment data will be needed as supporting evidence (such as clarifying detailed diagnosis and treatment records of diseases, obtaining quantitative data on occupational exposure, etc.). In the follow-up application for qualification for occupational compensation, you need to provide very detailed information.The determination of causality usually “needs” the assistance of occupational medicine physicians. Therefore, for workers with related concerns, it is recommended to go to the Occupational Medicine Department for further clarification.

For other issues related to compensation for occupational injuries or diseases, it is recommended to go to the Labor Insurance Bureau’sOfficial website, or call directly for more complete information. In addition, on April 23, 2021,The Legislative Yuan passed third readingof "the Law of Labor Protection and Labor Insurance for Occupational injuries and diseases". We are looking forward to more comprehensive protection of all workers through policies in the future!

Note 1: You may wonder why the cover of this article shows a picture of an injured athlete? Because for "professional" athletes, this will also be regarded as a kind of an occupational injury!
Note 2: Occupational Medicine clinics basically do not provide "treatment" for diseases. So for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, please go to other specialties!