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<p>The Secretary of State is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC)
which is a non-departmental public body made up of independent experts, representatives
of employers and employees on matters relating to the Industrial Injuries Scheme.</p><p>
</p><p>The Council’s primary role is to make recommendations about which diseases
should be included in the list of diseases covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme
and the prescription criteria for those diseases.</p><p> </p><p>The legal framework
underpinning the Industrial Injuries Scheme makes it clear that compensation should
not be paid for a disease unless a link between a particular occupation and the disease
can be established or presumed with reasonable certainty. A link is presumed where
there is evidence that, on the balance of probabilities, work in the prescribed job
or occupational exposure doubles the risk of developing the disease.</p><p> </p><p>The
Council’s recommendations around Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are that to
establish a presumed link between occupation and disease, a miner would have to work
for a minimum of 20 years underground to have sufficient exposure to coal dust. This
recommendation was accepted when the disease was added to the scheme and was reflected
in the prescription criteria.</p><p> </p>
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