Work-Related Cancer

Asbestos is the best known carcinogen – and the biggest killer. Today, asbestos claims well over 100,000 lives a year worldwide. It’s estimated that 10 million people across the world will have died as a result of asbestos exposure before it’s been fully controlled. But there are many other carcinogenic exposures that cause cancer and claim lives – well over 50 substances are listed as known or probable causes of workplace cancer. Across the world, the number of people dying from a work-caused cancer far outstrips those dying because of work accidents. It’s estimated that at least 666,000 people die worldwide every year*.

Recent research has built the most comprehensive picture to date for a single country. A research team at Imperial College, London, linked thousands of cancer deaths with different occupations. It found:

• almost 14,000 new cases of cancer caused by work are registered each year
• around 8,000 deaths a year are caused by occupational cancer

We posted recently on the steps that Scaffolders should be taking when creating silica dust when drilling scaffold anchors – but this is just one potential cause with as many as 1 in 5 workers in the European Union thought to be at risk.

In light of this, the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) has launched a campaign called #notimetolose. The campaign aims to get carcinogenic exposure issues more widely understood and help businesses take action. The campaign is working to:

• raise awareness of a significant health issue facing workers in the UK and internationally
• suggest some solutions on a UK scale to tackle the problem – a national model that can be transposed internationally
• offer free practical, original materials to businesses to help them deliver effective prevention programmes.

Visit the dedicated website at www.notimetolose.org.uk or click the image below for a fantastic resource on what needs to be done to to combat this horrible disease.

*Estimate of 666,000 global work-related cancer deaths annually: ‘Roles of occupational safety and health organisations in global and regional prevention strategies’, Takala et al., International Commission on Occupational Health, 2009.