While asbestosis does not medically progress to cancer, the legislature's coupling of these two diseases together as an occupational disease supports a contemplation that both diseases would occur in workers exposed to asbestos and they should be treated as one occupational disease for purposes of workers' compensation benefits. Given his lifetime claim for mixed dust pneumoconiosis, Sporio's former employers and the Commonwealth were aware that he was injured as a result of his exposure to asbestos. Furthermore, it is undisputed that Sporio's mesothelioma resulted from his exposure to asbestos at work. 5 Affording benefits also furthers the overall remedial purpose of the Workers' Compensation Act. The Act substitutes a quick and inexpensive scheme to provide compensation for work-related injuries in place of the common law process where the employee must sue the appropriate parties for damages.
Employers pay benefits at a set rate and they are immune from common-law liability.
Precluding Appellant from collecting death benefits goes against this remedial objective as Appellant is unable to pursue a remedy at common law. We agree with the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board that the Act should not be interpreted so that any disability resulting from exposure to a hazard at work is compensable regardless of when it manifests itself. The decision of the Commonwealth Court is reversed. Messrs. Justice Zappala and Cappy concur in the result. 1 The Commonwealth Court ultimately reversed this award because the claim was not compensable against General Electric under the extra-territorial provisions of the Act.