Virginia legislation addresses repetitive injuries

A bill that would expand the definition of occupational disease to include repetitive and sustained physical stressors is making its way through the Virginia Legislature.

H.B. 2228, introduced Wednesday and sent to a House Labor and Commerce subcommittee Monday, would specifically include “injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions, posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise,” according to a summary of the proposal.

The coverage would “not require that the injuries occurred over a particular period, provided that such a period can be reasonably identified and documented and further provided that the employment is shown to have primarily caused the injury, considering all causes,” according to the summary.

The bill defines “primarily” as meaning more than 50% of the cause of the injury.