Are employers doing enough to fight the causes of cancer at work?

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Campaigns are stepping up against a “barely visible” killer which is responsible for the deaths of some 100,000 people in Europe every year. "Occupational cancer is the barely visible cause of an unbearably high number of deaths,” says Shelley Frost, executive director of policy at the UK’s Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

“It’s barely visible broadly for two reasons – the literal invisibility of the carcinogens, and the latency of their effects,” Frost tells Equal Times. ”Some cancers are diagnosed up to a decade after the sufferer has been exposed, often unknowingly, to a carcinogen at work. Others can take more than 35 years to develop.”

Cancer risks are not usually the first thing people think of when talking about health and safety at work. “Businesses have traditionally focused more on the ‘safety’ aspect of safety and health”, according to Frost, because of “the immediate and often serious impact of an incident at work.”

“A total of 142 workers were killed at work in the UK in 2014-15, each case tragic and avoidable. This figure, however, is far outweighed by the 8,000 people who die each year as a result of work-related cancers.”

In its campaign to raise awareness of occupational cancer, IOSH is focusing on five common “agents” associated with work-related cancer in the UK – asbestos, diesel engine exhaust fumes, silica dust, solar radiation and shift work.

Asbestos remains the most common cause of work-related cancer in the UK, according to IOSH, and accounts for around 4,000 deaths a year.

“Asbestos affects mainly construction and trades like plumbing or maintenance, but it can also affect those working in sectors like retail, education and public services, where older buildings will contain asbestos,” Frost says.

 
Asbestos cover-up

Employees at a school in north Manchester, who wished to remain anonymous, told Equal Times they are considering starting a campaign to remove flooring from their school which was found to contain asbestos last year.

“We have a good health and safety policy here, but cancer-causing substances aren’t something you expect to deal with in places like schools,” said the school’s site manager, who oversees health and safety procedures.

“The staff are obviously quite concerned about the presence of asbestos. We’re not happy with the school management’s response, which was to cover the flooring with another material, as they decided that removing and replacing the flooring would be too expensive.” The decision, it seems, was in line with the law.

There’s a legal requirement on any employer only to allow a carcinogen in the workplace if there is “no reasonable alternative”, according to a spokesperson from the UK’s Prospect trade union.

“In practice, this often means that they will continue to use a cancer-causing agent if the alternative is more expensive. They will also often not consider alternatives if the exposure levels are below their legal maximum.”

“The regulations are quite clear that the first aim should always be to remove the hazard,” he continued. “Unfortunately, employers often forget this and see their role as controlling hazards through things like issuing workers with protective equipment.”

But he added that many employers are now waking up to the issue of carcinogens in the workplace – including those workplaces where such dangers might not be expected.

 
Awareness as good business

Frost says IOSH has noticed an increasing number of businesses are “seeing how embracing safety and health can bring genuine returns, not just for their workers but also in terms of their overall performance and reputation.”

“Increased awareness of the issue is key,” she says. “Businesses are doing much of what is required, but they just need to do more of it.”

“Businesses should look to avoid using the carcinogen by substituting it for a less harmful substance, modify the process so there is less exposure, or contain the process. Ventilation in various forms can be used to reduce exposures, and as a last resort personal protective equipment can be issued.”

Prospect say that, like other trade unions, it supports the “precautionary principle” – meaning that if there is a reasonable possibility that a substance may cause harm, then there should be a presumption that it will, and therefore should be controlled.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) meanwhile is campaigning for a change to EU regulations on cancer-causing substances at work, which it says set binding workplace exposure limits for only three substances.

The ETUI has produced a list of 50 carcinogenic substances which it says must be controlled, including diesel engine exhaust, leather dust, and formaldehyde.

There has been no action at all while this directive has been under review for the last 12 years, according to campaigners at the ETUC, who accuse the European Commission of “stalling”.

“Occupational cancer is the ignored epidemic,” states ETUC Confederal Secretary Esther Lynch. “Workers are dying, literally in the thousands every year, and for 12 long years the EU has done nothing about it. These deaths are the result of preventable workplace exposures.”

Though campaigns like these mean awareness is slowly increasing, it may be some time yet before carcinogens in the workplace are made a health and safety priority.