The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) has refused to recommend that foundry workers who develop lung cancer should qualify for industrial injuries benefit, despite acknowledging the job is linked to the cancer. IIAC noted: “Studies published since the council’s last review in 1986 suggest an increased risk of lung cancer in foundry workers when considered overall. But no strong evidence was found for a specific type of work or duration of exposure within the foundry industry. A doubling of risk is an important criterion for prescription of a disease under the Industrial Injuries Scheme. As there was no evidence of a doubling of risk, the council was therefore unable to make recommendations for adding lung cancer in foundry workers to the list of prescribed diseases for which people can claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.” In 1984, the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded there was ‘limited evidence’ that foundry work causes lung cancer. The same year, a study in a UK foundry found lung cancer rates approaching the IIAC double risk threshold.

Lung cancer and foundry workers, IIAC position paper 29, 29 March 2011.

Also see: AC Fletcher and A Ades. Lung cancer mortality in a cohort of English steel foundry workers, Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health, volume 10, number 1, pages 7-16, 1984.