Educate our children to prevent exposure to carcinogens at work.

The things children understand early on in life will stay with them to and through adulthood. The later they learn, the more difficult to transfer the understanding into behavioural change. We are convinced that if children start learning and understanding that their safety and health is related to their own choices it promotes becoming natural part of how they live and of course how they work.

In principle, the understanding why precautionary and prevention measures are necessary will directly influence today’s children to have a compliant and healthy attitude throughout their future working lives – either as craftspeople, employers or scientists. The risk of occupational cancer and its prevention is obviously a very complex issue that needs a special approach.

Some key findings are that:

  • Matters of occupational safety and health are easier to teach when they are integrated into other subjects, e.g. by integrating in general healthy schools initiatives.
  • Activity-based learning and real-life examples deliver messages more easily to children and young people, e.g. by involving kids in spotting hazards

We compiled info – among other – to either support teachers how to sensitise children or inspire governing bodies to utilise gamification approaches.

Possible programs and tools

Idea

Strategies for training teachers to deliver risk education.

Developing risk knowledge, attitudes and skills in young people before they enter work for the first time is one preventive action to foster workplace safety culture. Teachers need basic knowledge and ability to embed risk education into their classroom teaching and instruction and training materials.

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Idea

Lesson proposal for students aged 11 to 14 years.

Students are trained in recognizing pictograms for hazardous substances and learn about the problems of chronic effects. They outline suitable methods for safeguarding against and managing hazardous substances,

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Idea

Lesson proposal for students aged 14 years and older.

Lesson Proposal: Students deepen their knowledge of the hazardous properties of substances and how they are labelled, as well as of handling hazardous substances, especially carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic chemicals (CMR).

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Help

Interactive game

In the game, you play as a prevention advisor. You must identify unsafe situations involving cancer-causing substances in different workplaces. One key learning point is the STOP-principle. The game is available in English, Dutch, German and French.

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Occupational hazards.

Are you training students for a specific occupation? Use our occupational risk database to prepare them for their future job. With concrete solutions and measures to safeguard them.

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Help

General risks on cancer.

Our website is dedicated to raise awareness for cancer risks at work. However, cancer does rarely have one single cause and other factors beyond work contribute to cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), run by the World Health Organization (WHO), compiled 14 recommendations in the EU code against cancer that help you to reduce cancer risks in general.

Please note: This is a link to a verified source of information and will open in a new window.

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