Convenio sobre las enfermedades profesionales 1925 (núm. 18)

Abstract

Unlike occupational accidents, the identification of occupational diseases can be very complicated and difficult in many cases. The definition and list of occupational diseases of the ILO play a key role in harmonizing the development of policies on occupational diseases and promoting their prevention, acquiring great recognition in the field of occupational safety and health. It is an enumeration of diseases or disorders that can and should be prevented, although it does not include all occupational diseases. Its objective is to indicate those that are most common in the branches of activity of many countries and where prevention can have the greatest impact on workers’ health. It is complex to determine what causes diseases due to the long latency period of some diseases and the multiple causes of others, and why many of them could be related to the profession and working conditions. In the ILO Encyclopedia of Health and Safety at Work, among the pathological conditions that affect workers, work-related illnesses (occupational diseases) and diseases aggravated by work or with a greater incidence due to working conditions (work related illnesses). The border line that separates occupational and work-related diseases is very narrow, and the distinction between them always causes doctrinal differences