<Abstract>

Legal Measures for the Recognition of Cancer as an Occupational Disease of Workers in the Semiconductor Industry

Workers engaged in the semiconductor industry are suffering from a variety of diseases like cancer. But, those diseases are not recognized as occupational. Under the current rules and regulations, diseases are required to meet the elements of the cause and effect relationship if they are to be recognized as occupational. But, the current inadequate legal systems can prevent epidemiologic investigations from being objectively performed. That is why this research intended to present legal measures for the rules and procedures governing fair and effective epidemiologic investigations so that the cause and effect relationship can be identified correctly. In addition, this research offered some proposals to make the rules and procedures a necessary and effective tool for diseases in other industries to be recognized as occupational.

The corresponding corporations should have the duty of releasing information related to their operations for the pubic purposes. Workers should have the health safety warning right which would allow them to call for eliminating and correcting the detrimental and dangerous factors at their workplaces after they discover them. Third, in order to make the judgment of an occupational disease objective and fair, an independent jury for evaluating epidemiologic investigations consisting of ordinary citizens, workers, and experts must be operated. The jury should be granted the authority for to conduct on-the-spot investigations into workplaces and call for extensive information release, and to enforce it in case of noncompliance. In addition, any detrimental material discovered in the epidemiologic investigation should be designated as a carcinogen which can be instantly officially recognized as an industrial disaster compensation standard. An objective and fair recognition of an occupational disease and an adequate compensation for damage must be done through action. In case the above-mentioned rules and procedures for epidemiologic investigations are well prepared, the decision of a court should impose on a sued corporation the burden of proving that the alleged diseases and has nothing to do with its business.

In addition, this research did insist that corporate social responsibility should be secured by imposing punitive damages as societal damages on those corporations violating the rules. The reason is that the huge profits of big businesses which are gained at the sacrifice of workers and local citizens should be used again for public purposes to serve damaged workers and local communities. In particular, punitive damages awards can make those directly involved workers be substantially compensated for their damage by receiving the larger damages.

Key Words: workers in the semiconductor industry, cancer, an occupational disease, an epidemiologic investigation, the cause and effect relationship, compensation for industrial disaster, human rights, societal damages, punitive damages