In a new guide for unions, the TUC says that employers who expose their workers to cancer-causing chemicals at work should be prosecuted under UK safety laws.
The publication – Occupational Cancer. A Workplace Guide - aims to help union safety reps keep up the pressure on employers to make workplaces safer, and stop them from taking unnecessary risks with their employees' lives.
Around 250,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year, and although no one knows how many of these cases are because of contact with substances at work, the TUC estimates that workplaces account for as many as 18,000 cancer deaths.
Although some of the most toxic chemicals used in the UK are subject to specific exposure limits, this does not mean that anything below them is safe. Any worker who come into contact with cancer-causing chemicals - no matter how small the dose - is risking their health in later years.
Wherever possible, employers should try to eliminate the toxic chemicals from the workplace, and if this really isn't possible, then they should look at changing ways of working and give staff effective protective clothing.
Any harm caused to workers as a result from exposure can take decades to develop, says the TUC guide so there is far less pressure on employers to act than there would be if a fatal accident had recently occurred in their workplace.
To download the guide, go to: http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/occupationalcancer.pdf