Definitions; course of employment
Sec. 10. (a) As used in this chapter, "occupational disease" means
a disease arising out of and in the course of the employment.
Ordinary diseases of life to which the general public is exposed
outside of the employment shall not be compensable, except where
such diseases follow as an incident of an occupational disease as
defined in this section.
(b) A disease arises out of the employment only if there is
apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of all of the
circumstances, a direct causal connection between the conditions
under which the work is performed and the occupational disease, and
which can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of the work
as a result of the exposure occasioned by the nature of the
employment, and which can be fairly traced to the employment as the
proximate cause, and which does not come from a hazard to which
workers would have been equally exposed outside of the
employment. The disease must be incidental to the character of the
business and not independent of the relation of employer and
employee. The disease need not have been foreseen or expected but
after its contraction it must appear to have had its origin in a risk
connected with the employment and to have flowed from that source
as a rational consequence.
(Formerly: Acts 1937, c.69, s.6.) As amended by P.L.144-1986,
SEC.61; P.L.28-1988, SEC.51.
Last modified: May 27, 2006