Workers pose at a zinc factory in the Dongchuan district of Kunming, Yunnan province, on April 29. Many workers at the factory, named Aoyu, were diagnosed in October as having excessive amounts of arsenic and lead in their systems. [Photo/China Daily]

BEIJING - The tens of thousands of people in China who have occupational diseases will likely find it easier to access compensation when simpler diagnosis procedures are introduced, possibly later this year.

The State Council, or China's Cabinet, has recently passed a draft of the expected amendment to the Law on Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases and will soon submit it to the top legislature.

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Although no details have been released, experts believe one of the highlights will be a simplification of the process sick workers must follow to have their ailment diagnosed and classified as an occupational disease.

Currently, people claiming to have an occupational disease have to follow a medical and legal process that takes, on average, three years and 54 days to complete, the Beijing Yilian Legal Aid and Study Center of Labor, a non-government organization, said in a recent report. It is only after the process is followed that patients can hope to access compensation payments.

"The current law stipulates that workers should provide reams of documentation, including those detailing work experience, proof of employment, results from health checks and workplace risk evaluations, before they can apply for occupational disease diagnosis," said Huang Leping, the director of the center.

"Most of the files are in the hands of their employers and, according to our survey, around 40 percent of their bosses refuse to hand them over."

In a letter to the country's legislation body earlier this year, the center suggested that employers be made to take the responsibility of providing such information in compensation claims.

"The work safety watchdog should also order enterprises to record work-related hazards facing workers," Huang said.

Tang Chun, an occupational disease expert with the labor protection department under the All China Federation of Trade Unions, said his organization has been calling for legislation to simplify procedures for workers claiming to have occupational diseases.

"We say enterprises should be held responsible for workers' diseases if the businesses cannot prove that the workers are not in their employ and if they fail to prove that their company did not cause the problem," said Tang.

"I hope simplified procedures will help avoid similar struggles to the one of Zhang Haichao."

In 2009, Zhang underwent a thoracotomy, an operation in which his chest was opened so samples of his lungs could be taken, so he could prove he had contracted pneumoconiosis, a debilitating lung disease. A government-designated hospital in Henan province had previously insisted he simply had tuberculosis.

Zhang eventually received about $95,000 in compensation from his employer, a brick factory in the province where he had worked for three years.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that, in 2009, around 200 million laborers worked in hazardous environments, of which 18,128 had reported suffering from an occupational diseases.

Current laws ensure the country's work injury insurance fund covers treatment fees and offers subsidies to those with occupational diseases as long as that person's employer paid for health insurance. If the employer did not pay for health insurance, the employer should be responsible for all fees.