Since 16 June 2021, a diagnosis of lung cancer with silicosis, or scleroderma with silicosis, has been automatically presumed to have been caused by work under Victoria’s WorkCover scheme. This reversed the previous position, which required an injured worker to prove that their employment had significantly contributed to the disease before a WorkCover claim would be accepted.
This was – and remains – good news for injured workers. The last thing someone dealing with a very serious, often terminal, health condition needs is the added stress of having to build a case to convince a WorkCover insurer that their illness was caused by their job.
What “proclaimed disease” status actually means
Lung cancer with silicosis and scleroderma with silicosis were added to Victoria’s list of “proclaimed diseases” under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (the WIRC Act). Once a disease is proclaimed, a worker – or their dependants, if the worker has died – is entitled to compensation regardless of whether they can prove their work caused the illness. It’s simply assumed.
It remains open to WorkSafe or a self-insurer to try to establish that the illness wasn’t connected to employment, but in practice this is rarely pursued. For most workers and families, a diagnosis is enough to get a claim moving.
These two conditions joined an existing entry on the list – silicosis, with or without pulmonary tuberculosis – which had long been a proclaimed disease in its own right. Under WorkSafe’s claims manual, the three related entries now sit side by side:
- Silicosis, with or without pulmonary tuberculosis
- Lung cancer with silicosis
- Scleroderma with silicosis
Who the change affects, and from when
The change applies to new injuries occurring on or after 16 June 2021, as well as to injuries that occurred before that date, provided the WorkCover claim itself is lodged on or after 16 June 2021. The Victorian Government has said this allows any affected worker, or their dependants, to lodge a new claim for an illness suffered at any point since Victoria’s workers’ compensation scheme began in 1985 – as long as the claim is made now.
That last point matters. Silicosis-related lung cancer and scleroderma can take decades to develop after exposure, so a worker who was exposed to silica dust many years ago, and has only recently been diagnosed, isn’t shut out of the scheme just because the exposure happened long before the law changed.
These entitlements extend to dependants as well as workers themselves, which is particularly important given how serious – and in many cases fatal – these conditions can be.
Why this matters: the scale of the problem
According to Cancer Council Australia, it’s estimated that 230 people develop lung cancer each year in Australia as a result of past occupational exposure to silica dust. Not everyone who is exposed will go on to develop cancer – the risk increases with long-term or repeated high-level exposure – but for those who do, the consequences are severe.
Much of the recent rise in silicosis-type diagnoses can be traced to the growing popularity of engineered (manufactured) stone benchtops over roughly the last fifteen to twenty years. Engineered stone typically contains a far higher proportion of crystalline silica than natural stone, and cutting, grinding and polishing it without proper controls releases fine silica dust that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. Stonemasons and other tradespeople who worked with these products – often without adequate dust suppression or respiratory protection – have been particularly hard hit.
A further step: the national engineered stone ban
Since this issue first prompted Victoria’s law change, the problem has been serious enough to prompt a national response. From 1 July 2024, Australia introduced a nationwide ban on the manufacture, supply and use of engineered stone, specifically because of the role these products have played in the sharp rise in silicosis cases – with some estimates suggesting as many as one in four stonemasons in parts of Australia have been affected. The ban doesn’t undo exposure that’s already occurred, but it’s intended to prevent the next generation of workers from facing the same risk.
If you or a family member has been affected
If you’ve been diagnosed with silicosis, lung cancer or scleroderma after working with silica dust – whether that was recently or many years ago – it’s worth getting advice about whether you or your family may be entitled to make a WorkCover claim. Because these entitlements can apply retrospectively, it’s possible to have a valid claim even if the exposure happened decades ago.