Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, added her support to a new campaign to beat occupational cancer as she joined industry leaders, academics and occupational safety and health specialists in Westminster for the launch.
The House of Commons event, led by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), aims to cut the number of deaths from work-related cancer and raise awareness about the risks.
Mrs Abrahams said: “With a staggering two-thirds of a million annual global deaths to work-related cancer, the time has now come and the world must act.
“The call is a positive one. We can and must do more to tackle occupational disease and to manage health in the same way we manage safety as part of an overall ‘culture of care’.”
In a speech to attendees, IOSH CEO Jan Chmiel said: “We know that ‘good work’ is good for health and wellbeing and that all work should be safe and healthy.
“The enormous challenge to be addressed is known to us all here but sadly not to everyone because the appalling and preventable cost of occupational cancer, for individuals, business and society can be invisible and go unremarked.”
An array of organisations has come out in support of the campaign, from the Office of Rail Regulation to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Ben Plowden, of Transport for London, gave the industry perspective in a brief speech to guests.
And Dr Lesley Rushton, lead researcher on the most comprehensive study into the occupational cancer burden on the UK, told about the positive impact more compliance with limits on carcinogens would have.
She explained that increasing compliance with limits on silica, in industries like construction, from 33 per cent to 90 per cent would cut cancer deaths in the UK by an estimated 700 a year.
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