---
title: O.C.G.A. § 34-9-280. Definitions.
collection: code
id: 34-9-280
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 34-9-280 (2025)
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source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t34-(v26)-2017-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=ba91129b_0#page=914
date: 2025
status: active
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heading_path: LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS / WORKERS’ COMPENSATION / COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 34-9-280. Definitions.

As used in this article, the term:

(1) ‘‘Disablement’’ means the event of an employee becoming actually disabled to work, as provided in Code Sections 34-9-261, 34-9-262, and 34-9-263, because of occupational disease.

(2) ‘‘Occupational disease’’ means those diseases which arise out of and in the course of the particular trade, occupation, process, or employment in which the employee is exposed to such disease, provided the employee or the employee’s dependents first prove to the satisfaction of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation all of the following:

(A) A direct causal connection between the conditions under which the work is performed and the disease;

(B) That the disease followed as a natural incident of exposure by reason of the employment;

(C) That the disease is not of a character to which the employee may have had substantial exposure outside of the employment;

(D) That the disease is not an ordinary disease of life to which the general public is exposed;

(E) That the disease must appear to have had its origin in a risk connected with the employment and to have flowed from that source as a natural consequence.

For the purposes of this paragraph, partial loss of hearing due to noise shall not be considered an occupational disease. Psychiatric and psychological problems and heart and vascular diseases shall not be considered occupational diseases, except where they arise from a separate occupational disease.

## History

Code 1933, §§ 114-802, 114-803, 114-812, enacted by Ga. L. 1946, p. 103; Ga. L. 1971, p. 895, § 3; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 34; Ga. L. 1982, p. 2485, §§ 4, 5, 8; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1474, § 1.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 1987, p. 1474, § 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that that Act would apply to any occupational disease not previously diagnosed before July 1, 1987.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Occupational Diseases Under the Georgia Workmen’s Compensation Act,’’ see 8 Mercer L. Rev. 333 (1957).

For comment, ‘‘Georgia’s Mental Block in Workers’ Compensation,’’ see 36 Mercer L. Rev. 971 (1985).