Pennsylvania bill would funnel hazmat exposures into comp system

Exposure to asbestos and other hazardous materials in the workplace could find its way into workers compensation’s exclusive remedy in Pennsylvania if lawmakers approve a bill introduced Monday.

H.B. 2207, sponsored by 11 state representatives, states that workers comp would cover “disability or death resulting from an occupational disease having to occur within three hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation or industry to which a claimant was exposed to the hazards of disease.”

The bill also states that “claims filed for any disease for which the time period between exposure to the hazard of disease in the workplace and manifestation of disease is greater than three hundred weeks must be filed within three hundred weeks of the date on which a claimant is diagnosed with the disease or the disease is detectable.”

The bill has been sent to the House Committee on Labor and Industry.