8273725 The workers’ exposure Survey on cancer risk factors in Europe – strengths and limitations

<h3>Objective</h3> The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) carried out an exposure survey to cancer risks factors, based on an adaptation of the Australian Workplace Exposures Study (AWES). The survey provides prevalence and semi-quantitative levels of occupational exposure to 24 known risk factors in the last working week, for example silica dust, UV radiation, benzene, diesel exhaust, different metals, or wood dust; as well as demographic and job-related information for each worker. <h3>Material and Methods</h3> The survey was held with 24,402 respondents, representing 98.5 million European workers. The exposure assessment was conducted with the Occupational Integrated Database Exposure Assessment System (OccIDEAS) which was first developed for AWES and adapted for Europe by national experts from the six countries covered. <h3>Results</h3> The survey presents a few limitations considering the partial geographic coverage of the EU (Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland and Spain), and the limited time of the fieldwork (September 2022 to February 2023), thus not covering all seasonal working circumstances and all European workplaces. The expert assessment was conducted with the existing knowledge at the time, while work circumstances are constantly changing and new information about exposure levels in different jobs is regularly published. A gender bias was identified since the beginning, given the selection of the 24 risk factors and the existing knowledge better covering male-dominated occupations. The survey provides information on multiple exposures over the same working week and self-reported use of workplace prevention measures, mainly local exhaust ventilation and respiratory protection, but also specific protection measures when dealing with radiation, or strictly regulated substances like asbestos. <h3>Conclusion</h3> WES is a cross-sectional survey providing estimated occupational exposure to 24 cancer risk factors at a given point. The survey data is not meant to be used for establishing causal relations with current occupational cancer outcomes.