CHAPTER 457

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a new section numbered
65-48, setting up a schedule of occupational diseases under the Work-
men’s Compensation Act; to amend and reenact Section 65-44 of the
Code of Virginia, to provide for employer’s election to be bound by the
schedule of occupational diseases; and to amend and reenact Section
65-48 of the Code of Virginia, relating to notice to employers in occu-
pational disease cases. CH 662]

Approved March 29, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding a new section num-
bered 65-48, and that Sections 65-44 and 65-48, of the Code of Virginia, be
amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 65-48. The following diseases and conditions shall be deemed to
be occupational diseases, and even they shall not be so considered unless
they are in fact occupational within the meaning of the term occupational
disease as defined in the preceding section:

(1) Anthraz; .

(2) Tenosynovitis, bursitis, and epicondylitis;

(3) Cataract of the eyes due to exposure to the heat and glare of
molten glass or to radiant rays such as infra-red;

(4) Compressed wir illness ;

(5) Conjunctivitis or retinitis due to exposure to radiant rays;

(6) Cellulitis;

(7) Dermatitis;

(8) Epjitheliomatous cancer or ulceration of the skin or of the cor-
neal surface of the eye due to pitch, tar, soot, bitumen, anthracene, par-
affin, mineral oil or their compounds, products or residues;

(9) Glanders; .

(10) Infection of inflammation of the skin or eyes or other external
contact surfaces or oral or nasal cavities due to irritating oil, cutting com-
pounds, chemical dust, liquid fumes, gases or vapors;

(11) Infectious or contagious diseases contracted in the course of
employment in or in immediate connection with a hospital or sanatarium;

(12) Poisoning by: (i) Ammonia; (ii) Arsenic; (iti) Benzol or
derivatives of benzene; (iv) Brass; (v) Cadmium; (vi) Carbon bisulphide
or any sulphide; (vii) Carbon dioxide; (viii) Carbon monoxide; (ix) Car-
bon tetrachloride or other toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons or toxic halogen-
ated hydrocarbons; (x) Chlorine; (xi) Cyanide; (xii) Dinitrophenol;
(xitt) Formaldehyde and its preparations; (xiv) Hydrochloric acid; (xv)
Hydrofluoric acid; (xvi) Hydrogen sulphide; (xvti) Lead; (xviii) Man-
ganese; (xix) Mercury; (xx) Menthanol (wood alcohol); (xxi) Methyl
chloride; (xxii) Nickel carbonyl; (xiii) Nitrous fumes; (xxiv) Nitric
acid; (xxv) Petroleum or petroleum products; (xxvi) Phosphorus;
(xavit) Sulphur dioxide; (xxviii) Sulphuric acid; (xxix) Tetrachlor-
methane or any substance used as or in conjunction with a solvent for
acetate of cellulose or nitrocellulose; (xxx) Turpentine; (xaxi) Zinc; or
by contact with any other industrial chemical; . .

(18) Radium disability or disability due to exposure to radioactive
substances and X-Ray;

(14) Silicosis;

(15) Lung diseases due to the occupational exposure to asbestos,
and other fibrous silicates; to non-fibrous silicates, including mica, Ful-
lers Earth, kaolin; to inorganic dusts of calcim, iron, tin, barium, alum-
inum, beryllium, and silicon dioxide; to dusts of animal origin; and to
dusts of cotton, hay, grain, bagasse, paprica, tobacco, wood, and gum
acacia;

3 .

(16) Ulceration due to chrome compound or to caustic chemical,
acids or alkalies and undulent fever caused by the industrial slaughtering
and processing of livestock and the handling of hides.

_ .§ 65-44. * The employer shall be liable for all occupational diseases
arising out of and in the course of the employment pursuant to all pro-
visions of the Act applicable thereto, unless he shall reject the full cov-
erage and elect by written declaration filed in the offices of the Industrial
Commission to be bound only by the schedule of occupational diseases
set out in Section 65-43. Such election shall be effective as of the date the
declaration is received by the Industrial Commission, and an election once
made shall be effective until withdrawn by a ae filed in the offices
of the Industrial Commission. Upon withdrawal of election the employer
shall be liable for full coverage of occupational diseases. .

§ 65-48. Within thirty days after * a diagnosis * of an occupational
disease is first communicated to the employee, he, or someone in his be-
half, shall give written notice thereof to the employer in accordance with
Sections 65-82 and 65-83.