This 2009 paper in the Journal of Risk and Governance details the findings of a worker and community driven survey in 2000 of former workers of a plant using cancer-linked vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). It notes:  “This health study was organised and carried out by former employees of one plant, now closed, and their representatives. 162 questionnaires from a survey were collected and analysed from former plant workers on selected ill-health reported and primarily relating to respiratory, cardiovascular and mental health functions as well as recorded angiosarcoma cases. The survey revealed under-reported and unrecorded illnesses in the ex-workers that were associated with VCM in the scientific literature since the 1970s. The paper also documents working conditions using papers and reports from the ex- employees. Government departments at the time of the study such as the HSE (Hereafter Health and Safety Executive: the UK enforcement body on occupational health and safety) and Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) did not and still do not appear to offer coordinated and comprehensive support to those who later develop diseases that may be caused or related to their past work.” The study found officially overlooked cases of occupational cancer, including at least one case of angiosarcoma missing from HSE’s angiosarcoma registry. HSE was criticised for failing to search its register for cases at the plant.

Joanne Carlin, John Knight, Simon Pickvance and Andrew Watterson. A Worker-Driven and Community-Based Investigation of the Health of One Group of Workers Exposed to Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM), Journal of Risk and Governance, volume 1, issue 2, pages 105-124, 2009.