Occupational cancer burden research

HSE commissioned Dr Lesley Rushton and colleagues, from Imperial College London and colleagues from the Health and Safety Laboratory, the Institute of Occupational Medicine and the Institute of Environment and Health, to produce an updated and detailed estimate of the burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain. The outputs from this work will help HSE to develop and prioritise practical measures to help reduce the occupational cancer burden in the future.

This work is in two parts as follows:

Phase 1 – Current Cancer Burden

In the first phase, the current burden due to past occupational exposures was estimated for twenty three most common cancer sites: bladder, bone and thyroid, brain, breast, cervix, kidney, larynx, leukaemia, liver, lung, all lymphohaematopoietic, melanoma, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma, nasopharynx, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, oesophagus, ovary, pancreas, stomach, sinonasal, and soft tissue sarcoma.

An overview report and a methodology report have also been produced,

• Overview report
• Methodology report

Individual reports for each cancer site can be found below,

Interim reports:

An interim report (RR 595) was published in 2007 containing provisional estimates for the burden of cancer associated with the six identified most common cancer sites: bladder; leukaemia; lung; mesothelioma; sinonasal; and non-melanoma skin cancer. An interim overview report (RR800) was published in 2010 containing interim results for all of the cancer sites examined. The estimates contained in these reports have now been updated in the light of new information but the copies of the original reports can still be found below.

• 2007: Research Report 595 – The Burden of Occupational Cancer in Great Britain
• April 2010: Research Report 800 –The Burden of Occupational Cancer in Great Britain: Overview report

Phase 2 - Future Cancer Burden

This investigates the future cancer burden due to occupation. A methodology report was published in 2011 and a technical report summarising estimates of future cancer burdens for selected carcinogens was published in 2012.

April 2011: Research Report 849 - Predicting the future burden of occupational cancer - methodology