A new campaign will help raise awareness of occupational health hazards, says the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s Phil Bates.
In Britain, 133 people lost their lives to fatal work-related injuries in 2013-14, according to the Health and Safety Executive, of which 42 were working in construction. However, this is less than 2% of the overall picture as it is estimated there are around 12,000 fatalities each year that can be linked to the workplace.
Workplace exposures leading to illness are behind this statistic, and work-related cancers account for 8,000 deaths, according to the HSE. Of these, half are contracted from exposure to asbestos, with the other 4,000 from exposures to other carcinogens. In construction, about 3,700 cancer cases are estimated to arise each year as a result of past exposures.
The Institution of Occupational Safety & Health’s (IOSH) No Time to Lose campaign, launched on 3 November, throws a spotlight on work cancer cases, some of which can take more than 35 years to develop.
Occupational cancer is not a new phenomenon; “soot wart” or “chimney sweeps’ cancer” was identified in 1775 by Dr Sir Percy Pott. In 1899, there was the first recorded UK case of occupational pulmonary death caused by asbestos. And Sir Richard Doll made the link between asbestos and lung cancer in 1955, but it was not banned in the UK until 1999.
But great strides have been made in understanding work cancer and there is plenty of good advice to help us manage the risks. Following the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health hierarchy (COSHH is the UK statutory instrument implementing the EU’s Directive on Control of Substances Hazardous to Work) goes a long way.
The hierarchy advises avoiding the carcinogen, substituting it for a less harmful substance, or modifying the process so there is less exposure.
The construction industry is already committed to tackling occupational cancer, but more can be done. IOSH wants to raise awareness of five of the top causes of occupational cancer registrations and deaths.
- Diesel engine exhaust emissions – DEE is linked to 650 UK deaths a year
- Solar radiation – more treatable than some cancers, but the registrations are still high.
- Asbestos – The HSE estimates that 1.8 million people of which 1.3 million are trades people, are still at risk of exposure.
- Shift work – More research is needed, but research suggests that night shift work can cause breast cancer.
- Silica – If compliance with current controls of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) could be improved from 33% to 90%, more than 600 cancer registrations would be avoided.
Phil Bates is senior policy & technical adviser at the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health. www.notimetolose.org.uk
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