The workplace is being blamed for about 5,000 cases of cancer in Australian workers each year.
Research by the Queensland Cancer Fund and the University of Sydney also shows almost 1,600 annual cases of lung cancer were attributed to exposure to asbestos, exhausts, passive smoking and fumes at work.
The research also examined work-related cases of bladder and colon cancers.
The report’s author, Associate Professor Lin Fritschi, says about 11 per cent of cancers in men and 2 per cent in woman are caused by occupation, which is a higher figure than previously found.
“Previous estimates have found about 4 per cent of cancers were caused by occupation but we used more up-to-date information and more complete information,” she said.
Professor Fritschi said the main kinds of cancers caused by work were lung, colo-rectal, prostrate and melanomas.
“The construction industry is a problem. In the construction industry people can be exposed to a range of different things, like asbestos, silica dust, other types of fibres and mineral dust, and things like solvents,” she said.
“The hospitality industry and outdoor work and sedentary work are the main ones for women because women tend not to be exposed in the heavy industries,” she said.
Professor Fritschi says both employers and employees need to be more aware of health and safety issues as well as “lifestyle” exposure such as sedentary work, the sun and passive smoking.
“The problem is that if you have an injury at work, it’s very clear that your injuries are associated with work,” she said.
“If it’s a cancer occurring from something at work, it may occur 20 years later and the link is harder to find.
“So people are less aware of the kind of things that cause cancer at work and there’s much less interest in disease caused by work than there is in injury caused by work so we’d like to see that elevated a little bit more in people’s importance.”
