Occupational disease regulation revised to better protect employees

To better protect workers' rights, China has revised a regulation on occupational diseases that ensures more efficient procedures to identify such diseases. The revised Regulation on Diagnosing and Authenticating Occupational Diseases, which was released Monday by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, allows employees to choose from more health institutions for the diagnoses of occupational diseases and simplifies the procedures for applying for official confirmation of such diagnoses. Meanwhile, the regulation stipulates that employers are responsible for presenting evidence on occupational disease-related conflicts with their employees, and local production safety administrative departments should assist employees in urging involved employers to do so. Some 779,849 cases of occupational diseases had been reported in China by the end of 2011. Last year, the country had 562 institutions that were officially recognized to diagnose such diseases. The revised regulation will take effect from April 10.