Staying safe in the sun

UV protection at work should be a priority for all, but laissez-faire attitudes are a cause for concern. How can OSH professionals raise awareness and safeguard workers?

Working outdoors poses many risks for employees, including exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. But according to a YouGov survey of 4435 respondents, of whom 558 were outdoor workers, precautionary measures are not always taken (SC Johnson Ltd, 2023). It found that a third of outdoor workers never apply sunscreen at work, and 34% of them claimed nothing would encourage them to do so. A third of those who never use UV protection at work said that they didn’t think it was necessary and 28% stated that they didn’t burn easily in the sun, citing this as their reason.

Professor David Whiteman, senior scientist and head of cancer control at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, has studied the effects of sunlight on people for more than 30 years.

‘When people go out in the sun and get exposed to UV radiation, there are different wavelengths of UV, and it’s the UVB wavelengths that have the shorter, higher potency that can penetrate into the outer layers of the skin,’ he explains.

‘They’re particularly damaging to DNA sequences in skin cells. They result in a specific mutation that they cause in adjacent base pairs and they are quite carcinogenic.

‘UVB radiation leads to genes being mutated and cells being altered in the way they function that, over time, with more exposure to UV and more damage to the cells, leads to uncontrolled growth and proliferation, and a skin cancer forms.’

Skin cancer in the form of melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma – a type of non-melanoma skin cancer – can be fatal. Nearly one in three deaths from non-melanoma skin cancer are caused by working under the sun. In 2019, almost 19,000 people in 183 countries died from non-melanoma skin cancer from working outdoors in the sun (International Labour Organization (ILO), 2023).

The estimates also reveal that occupational exposure to solar UV radiation is now the third-highest attributable burden of work-related cancer deaths worldwide (see Skin cancer: the stats, overleaf).

‘Sunburn events appear to be pretty bad for melanoma particularly,’ David says. ‘It’s the intermittent acute intense exposures that seem to be really potent at initiating cancer.’

One key driver determining the burden of skin cancer in any given population, he explains, is the amount of sunlight different parts of the world are exposed to. For example, Australia and New Zealand have higher levels of UV, low latitude and relatively little cloud cover compared with northern Europe. And while pale-skinned people in such areas are most at risk, those with darker skin are also advised to wear sunscreen. All workers exposed to sunlight without protection are at risk.

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PROTECTING THE PROFESSIONALS 

So what constitutes good UV protection for those professions most at risk, including agriculture and construction?

Dr Karen Michell, IOSH research programme lead, says: ‘With the hierarchy of control, no exposure is the safest, but it’s unrealistic as certain jobs have to be exposed. So you’re looking at making sure that exposure is controlled as best as possible.’

With that come engineering and administrative controls, as well as PPE. ‘Even though exposure may be less during the winter months, those key hours of 11am to 3pm would be a good time to not expose workers.’

Nigel Ashcroft CMIOSH (retired), former chair of IOSH Ireland branch, says changing shifts during this period can help. ‘Employers can rotate teams so that someone who would have been working all the way through the midday period would only work some of it.’

Nigel, a former ambassador for IOSH’s No Time to Lose campaign who also designed a Mechanisms of Cancer presentation as a means of incentivising workers, recommends ‘light-coloured clothing to reflect the sun – it needs to be tightly woven material’. Hats that ‘have tightly woven covers on the back’ are also essential.

For parts of the body that are still exposed, OSH professionals should recommend a sunscreen which is no less than SPF30 . ‘It needs to be water resistant and workers must remember to reapply during the day.’

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Getting workers to adopt these measures is a challenge, partly because of laissez-faire attitudes. Indeed, the YouGov survey also found that 16% of those who don’t use sun protection, such as sunscreen at work, claimed this wasn’t provided by their employer.

In terms of PPE, Dr Bálint Náfrádi, technical specialist in OSH data at the ILO, says: ‘It’s a responsibility for the employer to provide adequate PPE but it’s also an obligation for workers to cope with the equipment,’ he explains. ‘That’s the tricky part – when you get equipment which isn’t fit for purpose, whose fault is it for not using it?’

To avoid this, he says the ILO promotes discussions between employees, employers and OSH professionals. ‘Workers might have an idea how they can protect themselves because they do the work,’ Bálint says. ‘If they feel they are part of the process and their opinion is valued, compliance tends to be higher.

‘It boils down to good training and awareness raising. That’s also part of what OSH professionals can do and comes with regular reinforcement.’

Excerp from https://www.ioshmagazine.com/2024/02/22/staying-safe-sun