Grundlagen der deutschen BK-Systematik - Wann ist eine Erkrankung eine Berufskrankheit?

Summary

According to the German Social Law Code (Sozialgesetzbuch VII), Occupational Diseases are caused by exposures from an activity covered by the statutory accident insurance; the federal government defines them as Occupational Diseases by ordinance with the approval of the Federal Council. The latest amendment to the Ordinance on Occupational Diseases (Berufskrankheiten-Verordnung, BKV) of 5th September 2002 includes 68 items. The Federal government is authorized to designate those diseases as Occupational Diseases, which are caused by specific effects to which particular groups of people are exposed in the course of their insured activities to a far higher degree than the other part of the population. All physicians have to report the suspicion of an Occupational Disease to the statutory accident insurance or to the governmental authorities of occupational safety and health, respectively. Whether and to what extent the statutory accident insurance institutions are liable for rehabilitation and compensation depends on the causal relation to the insured activity.