From 18 September 2009, pleural plaques is considered to be a specified occupational disease under Schedule 3 (Specified industrial diseases) of the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (the Act). WorkCover WA has joined Queensland as one of only two Australian jurisdictions to recognise pleural plaques as an asbestos-related disease.

WorkCover WA’s decision was based on advice from its Medical Advisory Committee, following consideration of research that suggests a direct causal link between pleural plaques and exposure to asbestos.

The pleura is the membrane lining the lung, and pleural plaques are areas of scar tissue or fibrosis present on the inner surface of the ribcage and diaphragm that are often partly calcified.

The listing in Schedule 3 of the Act creates a presumption in favour of the worker with regard to pleural plaques. Presumptive legislation reverses the onus of proof by placing an obligation on the employer to establish that an occupational disease is not related to the occupation or occupational processes in which an injured worker was engaged. That is, if a worker contracts the disease, and has been involved in a work-process established as correlating with contraction of the disease, the disease is deemed to have been due to the nature of employment.