20 CFR § 718.304 - Irrebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t20/s718.304"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "20 CFR § 718.304 - Irrebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis."
title_number: 20
title_name: "Employees' Benefits"
section_number: "718.304"
section_name: "Irrebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "FEDERAL COAL MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT OF 1969, AS AMENDED"
part_number: "718"
part_name: "STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING COAL MINERS' TOTAL DISABILITY OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 301; Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1950, 15 FR 3174; 30 U.S.C. 901  902(f), 934, 936; 33 U.S.C. 901  42 U.S.C. 405; Secretary's Order 10-2009, 74 FR 58834."
regulatory_source: "45 FR 13678, Feb. 29, 1980, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "718"
---


# 718.304 Irrebuttable presumption of total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis.

There is an irrebuttable presumption that a miner is totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, that a miner's death was due to pneumoconiosis or that a miner was totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis at the time of death, if such miner is suffering or suffered from a chronic dust disease of the lung which:

(a) When diagnosed by chest X-ray (*see* § 718.202 concerning the standards for X-rays and the effect of interpretations of X-rays by physicians) yields one or more large opacities (greater than one centimeter in diameter) and would be classified in Category A, B, or C in accordance with the classification system established in Guidelines for the Use of the ILO International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses as provided in § 718.102(d); or

(b) When diagnosed by biopsy or autopsy, yields massive lesions in the lung; or

(c) When diagnosed by means other than those specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, would be a condition which could reasonably be expected to yield the results described in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section had diagnosis been made as therein described: *Provided, however,* that any diagnosis made under this paragraph must accord with acceptable medical procedures.

[79 FR 21613, Apr. 17, 2014]