Workers’ Exposure Survey on cancer risk factors in Europe – first findings

More than 60% of the workers had multiple exposures in the mining and quarrying activities (NACE B) and in the construction activities (NACE F), as well as in 10 out of the 50 job categories defined in the survey, namely mine and quarry workers, petrol and gas station workers, road construction and maintenance workers, upholstery industry workers, forestry and wood workers, welders and boilermaker. [...] European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 3 Occupational cancer risk factors in Europe – first findings of the Workers’ Exposure Survey 1.2 Circumstances of exposure WES provides information on the groups of workers exposed but also on the different circumstances of exposure to each cancer risk factor in the last working week. [...] The survey population included individuals working in all sectors of economic activity during the week preceding the interview, aged 15 years or more, and whose usual place of residence and employment was in the territory of the country where the survey took place. [...] The unbalanced gender distribution may be due to some extent to a limitation of the survey: many of the 24 cancer risk factors addressed by WES were mainly relevant to male-dominated industrial jobs and sectors (see Figure 1 for the list of the cancer risk factors). [...] ▪ WES has been thoroughly adapted by EU-OSHA and occupational safety and health experts from the survey countries, in terms of the questions and the exposure assessment logics used by OccIDEAS, to be relevant to the EU context and considering the EU legislation related to the 24 cancer risk factors.