Safe Work Australia has updated its list of work-related diseases and health dangers, to guide people involved in prevention work or compensation.

Diseases on the “deemed” list fit into eight categories: infectious, malignancy, diseases of the nervous system, respiratory, hepatic, skin, musculoskeletal, and acute poisoning and toxicity.

“The effect of this [list] is to reverse the onus of proof,” the Deemed Diseases in Australia report says. “A worker with the disease who has been exposed… in the course of their work
is assumed to have developed that disease because of the exposure, unless there is strong evidence to the contrary.” 

The list “simplifies relevant claims on the assumption that there is a high likelihood that the disease has arisen as a result of work-related exposures”. 

Anthrax, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and HIV and AIDS are among diseases classified as infectious.

The agency says HIV and AIDS can “occur in an occupational context”.

“It is therefore recommended that HIV associated with needle-stick injuries in high-risk workers – health workers and laboratory workers handling bodily fluids – be included on the list, but not HIV in other occupations,” the report says.

Lower back pain is not included on the list.

“The connection between lower back pain symptoms, disability and demonstrable pathology is often not clear or requires very focused investigation,” the report says.

“A wide range of occupations, work tasks, workplace factors and psychological factors have been associated with lower back pain, but there is significant debate regarding the validity of much of the evidence.”

Work on the report started in August 2013. It draws on scientific evidence of causal links between diseases and occupational exposure, and clear diagnostic criteria.