POLICY NUMBER: 1. 2. 9

Effective Date: February 1, 1996
Date Issued: December 1, 1995
Date Approved by Board of Directors: October 4, 1995
Topic: Lung Cancer - Coke Oven Workers
Section: Entitlement
Subsection: Occupational Diseases

Policy Statement

1. Lung cancer in Coke Oven workers will be considered under the following guidelines.

1.1 Lung cancer in Coke Oven workers is accepted as an occupational disease as peculiar to and characteristic of exposure to coke oven emissions in the steel industry.

1.2 Based on medical studies, lung cancer claims shall be favourably considered when the following appropriate combinations of circumstances regarding exposure, latency, and cessation factors apply:

1.2.1 Persons employed five or more years in full time topside exposure;
1.2.2 Persons employed for ten or more years in mixed side-oven/topside exposure;
1.2.3 Persons employed for fifteen or more years in side-oven exposure only;
1.2.4 The inception (latent) period between first exposure and the acceptance of lung cancer be at least ten years;
1.2.5 The cessation interval (CI) (time between cessation of occupational risk and appearance of lung cancer) in a smoker shall be fifteen years or less;
1.2.6 The cessation interval (CI) in a confirmed non-smoker or ex-smoker shall be twenty years or less. (See definitions below.)

1.3 Claims which do not meet with criteria outlined in 1.2 above, will be individually judged on their own merits, taking into consideration the variations in intensity and duration of exposure which would cause lung cancer. Where it seem reasonable that lung cancer resulted from exposure to coke oven emissions in the steel industry, consideration shall be given to these cases.

2. Definitions of Smoking:

2.1 Non-smoker
A never smoker. A person who has never smoked even occasionally.

2.2 Ex-smoker
A person who has smoked during his lifetime but who has not smoked for the past ten or more years.

2.3 Smoker
A person who currently smokes, or who has ceased smoking for less than the previous ten years.

Application

This Policy applies to all decisions made on or after February 1, 1996.

References

Workers' Compensation Act (Chapter 10, Acts of 1994 - 95), Sections 2(v), 12