Microelectronics firms in Britain have neglected health risks to workers, tampered with crucial safety alarms and have shown no consideration of the risks faced by entire groups of workers, an official report has found. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uncovered “weaknesses”, “misunderstandings” and poor practices in vital safety procedures across the sector.

Rob Edwards’ website. Control and management of hazardous substances in semiconductor manufacturers in Great Britain in 2009, HSE, July 2010. Risks 464.

A ‘dramatic’ increase in a range of occupational and childhood cancers has been linked to pesticide exposures. A report published last week by CHEM Trust links exposure prior to conception or during pregnancy to higher rates of childhood cancer and warns that farm workers could also be developing cancers caused by pesticide exposures at work.

CHEM Trust. Green jobs, safe jobs blog.

The occupational cancer burden in the UK has been consistently under-estimated and is concentrated almost entirely in certain social classes, a new study shows. The findings were presented at the Society of Occupational Medicine’s 2010 meeting. “There is a social inequality in occupational cancer risk, which is concentrated in manual workers and lower employment grades. This means that many of the industries with workers at risk don’t have access to good occupational health advice so proper risk assessments are not undertaken,” said Dr Olivia Carlton, president of the Society of Occupational Medicine “The missed opportunity is that we know many of the culprits and how to control them.”

Lesley Rushton and others. Occupation and cancer in Britain, British Journal of Cancer, volume 102, pages 1428–1437, 2010 [abstract]. Related HSE report: The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf]. Risks 460.

This report indicates thousands of occupational cancer deaths each year have been missed in official estimates. The study for HSE, the UK’s official workplace safety enforcement agency, puts the number of cancer deaths in 2005 that were attributable to work at 8,023 – which compares to the 6,000 deaths a year HSE defended as a “best available estimate” until 2008. The new higher figures, which HSE now concedes “are likely to be a conservative estimate of the total attributable burden”, indicate in Great Britain there were 13,694 cancers caused by work in 2005. Hazards subsequently warned “even this figure is conservative for an embarrassment of reasons”, noting: “Filling the gaps in the HSE analysis would quickly push the toll into excess of 10,000 deaths a year and probably well above the minimum 12,000 annual occupational cancer death toll estimated by Hazards in 2005.”

Lesley Rushton and others. Occupation and cancer in Britain, British Journal of Cancer, volume 102, pages 1428–1437, 2010 [abstract]. The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf].

French road building firm Eurovia has been found liable for the death of a worker from a bitumen-related cancer. The French research agency AFSSET is to conduct a review of the occupational risks linked to the use of bitumen at work.

Risks 457.

After the leukaemia death this year of 23-year-old Samsung worker Park Ji-yeon, the company went on Twitter to offer sympathy. But the electronics giant, which is being blamed by campaigners for a cancer cluster in its Korean factories, is insisting Samsung’s problem is not one of chemicals, but of communication.

Hazards 110, April-June 2010.

Policymakers in the US should abandon a reactionary approach to regulation of cancer causing chemicals and champion a precautionary approach, top advisers to Barack Obama have said. The report from the President’s Cancer Panel recommends: “A precautionary, prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants in which human harm must be proven before action is taken to reduce or eliminate exposure,” adding that this new approach “should be the cornerstone of a new national cancer prevention strategy that emphasises primary prevention.”

Reducing environmental cancer risk: What we can do now, President’s Cancer Panel, April 2010. Risks 456.

Thousands of occupational cancer deaths each year have been missed in official estimates, a new study for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has shown. The report puts the number of cancer deaths in 2005 that were attributable to work at 8,023 – which compares to the 6,000 deaths a year HSE defended as a “best available estimate” until two years ago – and HSE now concedes even the new figures “are likely to be a conservative estimate of the total attributable burden.”

The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf] Risks 455.

Nearly 2,000 women contract breast cancer every year in the UK because they work night shifts, according to a new report. The figure, published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is based on 2005 data and attributes 1,969 new cases of breast cancer and 555 deaths from the disease that year to shiftwork. The findings were elaborated in a 2012 HSE report.

The Herald. The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf]. Risks 455.

Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before a woman reaches her mid-30s could treble her risk of developing cancer after the menopause, a study suggests. Women exposed to synthetic fibres and petroleum products during the course of their work seem to be most at risk, according to the paper, published in the 1 April issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

F Labreche and others. Postmenopausal breast cancer and occupational exposures, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 263-269, 2010.