Two ways into the table
Decree 1477’s table can be consulted by risk agents or disease groups. The first route helps orient prevention; the second supports medical assessment. Finding a matching term is not enough to determine the occupational origin of an individual person’s condition.
Colombia’s concept of occupational disease operates within its own system. General information about occupational disease does not replace national recognition rules, and another country’s disease list cannot automatically be applied to a Colombian case.
Causation requires exposure information
The decree allows recognition of diseases not included in the table where a causal relationship with occupational risk factors is established. Assessment considers exposure and a medically diagnosed disease, including the circumstances of time, manner and place.
Where measurements are unavailable, it provides for reconstruction of occupational and exposure history. Changes of job, products used and controls in place may therefore be relevant. A missing current record does not establish that exposure never occurred during earlier years of employment.
Read the relevant amendments
Decree 676 of 2020 amended the direct-disease category, including COVID-19 under the specified conditions for healthcare-sector personnel. That category has particular recognition rules and should not be generalised to every diagnosis or all economic activities.
Decree 1036 of 2026 partially amended the annex concerning foot dermatophytosis, or tinea pedis. It clarifies that inclusion does not itself establish occupational origin automatically: individual exposure and the causal link must be assessed in the particular case.
Use the table preventively
For prevention, the table helps connect identified hazards with controls and health surveillance. A suspected condition should be referred to the competent professionals and institutions, while relevant information is preserved and shared exposure among other workers is reviewed.
Records should distinguish documented facts, hypotheses and medical conclusions. The table does not authorise employers to diagnose conditions or reject them simply because they are not listed. Traceable exposure information supports both investigation and subsequent preventive decisions, including changes needed to protect workers who may still face the same hazard.
