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European Commission proposes new exposure limits on workplace carcinogens

Open-access content Tuesday 17th April 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

European Commission proposes new exposure limits on workplace carcinogens

It has proposed to include new exposure limit values for five chemicals in the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD). These are: cadmium and its inorganic compounds; beryllium and inorganic beryllium compounds; arsenic acid and its salts, as well as inorganic arsenic compounds; formaldehyde; and 4,4'-methylene-bis(2-chloroaniline).

The first three carcinogens are used extensively in sectors such as nickel-cadmium battery manufacture, mechanical plating, zinc and copper smelting, foundries, electronics, chemicals, construction, plastics and recycling.

The new exposure restrictions could not only lead to fewer cases of work-related cancer, but also prevent more than 22,000 cases of work-related illness caused by carcinogenic and mutagenic substances, according to the commission. For example, exposure to beryllium causes an incurable chronic lung disease called berlliosis, in addition to lung cancer.

Marianne Thyssen, the European Commissioner for employment, social affairs, skills and labour mobility, said: "We propose to limit workers' exposure to five additional cancer-causing chemicals. This will improve protection for over one million workers in Europe and help create a healthier and safer workplace, which is a core principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights."

The EC proposed two previous legislative amendments to the CMD in May 2016 and in January 2017, the first of which was adopted as a Directive (EU) 2017/2398 by the co-legislators at the end of 2017. The second is currently under discussion.

Around 21 million EU workers are exposed to at least one of the chemical agents listed in the three proposed legislative amendments.

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 HSENI pledges to cut high-hazard industry deaths

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Wednesday 21st March 2018
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Tuesday 10th April 2018
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 Manufacturing absence shows slight decline

Friday 27th April 2018
The manufacturers’ organisation’s 2018 report, published this week, shows employees took an average five days off sick last year, compared with 5.2 in 2016 and 5.3 in 2015. The latest benchmark report covers the calendar year 2017 and the statistics are based on responses from 203 manufacturers employing more than 33,000 staff. The overall absence rate for the sector was 2.2% of total working time, which is a slight improvement on 2.3% in 2016 and 2.4% in 2015.
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 EU campaign promotes effective carcinogen management

Tuesday 1st May 2018
Workplace exposure to carcinogens alone is costing the EU economy €2.4bn (£2.1bn) in lost productivity due to worker absence and ill-health, it said. The European Commission has recently proposed to limit workers’ exposure to five cancer-causing chemicals, in addition to the 21 substances that have already been limited or proposed to be limited.
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