Rights and Duties for creating a safe working environment
Did you know that your employer has some general duties in order to guarantee your safety and well-being at work and some very specific duties to minimise your exposure against cancer-causing agents? Please find below the most important things your employer has to consider and what your rights and duties are as an worker.
Please note that these duties are laid down in the Directive and might deviate in your national legislation
Employer Duty: Risk assessment
General duties
Employers have to assess the risk(s) that might be associated with the task you or your colleagues perform. When this risk assessment shows that you work with a carcinogen or that the process generates a carcinogen, your employer has to take care that the derived risk reduction measures adequately consider all exposure pathways and the duration and nature of the work
Identify carcinogen(s)
- Your employer has to assess, whether the task you perform involves the use of a carcinogen. This can be facilitated by organising the chemicals within a substance inventory.
- Your employer has to assess whether the type of activity or task or process generates carcinogen(s).
- Assessing the amount of exposure is highly relevant for deciding on the best risk reduction strategy.
Determine exposure
- Employers have to assess whether unexpected exposure can occur. In order to facilitate for example accident prevention, your employer has to ensure that you and your colleagues are adequately informed and trained to perform your tasks.
- Employers have to specifically assess cleaning and maintenance activities that tend to have a rather critical exposure potential necessitate adapted risk reduction measures.
Substitution or elimination
Substitution – replace dangerous substances with less dangerous substances or processes is always the first measure to consider.
Employer duties
Employers have to prevent the risk at all by replacing the carcinogen(s) by less hazardous substance(s) when this is possible or at least change the process(es) to prevent or minimise the generation of one or more carcinogen(s).
Worker rights and duties
Finding a suitable alternative or a substitution solution is a very demanding task for your employer, especially if customers rely on an unchanged product. In any case, when a less hazardous substance or an alternative technique can replace a carcinogen, your employer has to consider the replacement. Keep asking them regularly whether a change is possible.
Technical measures
Technical measures include mechanical devices or processes that eliminate or minimise the exposure to carcinogens. These technical measures might involve enclosure, use of ventilation and/or automation of processes.
Employer duties
Employers have to use a closed system or automated process if substitution is not possible and the nature of the work does not allow for a closed process.
Typically, the most effective way to reduce exposure when enclosing or automation does not work is the use of efficient local exhaust ventilation in combination with a good general workplace ventilation.
Worker rights and duties
- You have to comply with the instructions of your employer. Even if certain operational procedures seem lengthy, they are most likely the result of the risk assessment and safeguard your health. Therefore, do not turn off, change or manipulate the position of safety devices installed on machines or facilities. The closer a local exhaust ventilation is positioned, the more effective the exposure reduction is.
- You should inform your employer whenever you encounter any serious or imminent threats for you and your colleagues safety and health due to malfunctioning of safety installation
Organisational measures
Organisational measures – may consist of internal policies and/or organisational methods. These measures should only be used to provide additional protection. They should also be considered for emergencies and for workers who carry out regular cleaning and maintenance work.
Employer duties
- Employers have to organise proper workplace hygienic measures such as wet swiping of floors and surface. Brooming and using pressurised air always leads to additional exposure to carcinogens and is not allowed in workplaces.
- Employers to exhaust organisational measures (i.e. reducing the time you and your colleagues spend in the work area) before you should be mandated to wear personal protection equipment (PPE)
- Employers to instruct and train you not only before you perform a task for the first time but regularly with updated instruction and training materials. Your employer needs to ensure that you and your colleagues have understood the instructions. If you feel the tasks are still not safe or the safety measures are not easy to comply with, your employer should take your view into account as well and even adapt the risk assessment and the subsequent measures, if necessary.
- Employers to document the amount of a carcinogen that you and your colleagues are handling or exposed to and the time you and your colleagues spend performing the task. Furthermore, your employer must keep record of the risk reduction measures and the personal protective equipment (PPE) used. Your employer has to provide this documentation to you if you retire or change workplaces. It gives you proof at hand in case that you ever develop a work-related disease.
- Employers to introduce collective organisational measures. For example that only authorised workers enter the work area where exposure to carcinogens can occur, establish a behaviour code and assign supervisor and coordination roles)
- Employers have to ensure that you and your colleagues do not eat or drink in the working area but instead offer dedicated areas for breaks in which your working clothes are not allowed. Your employer has to provide adequate time within a shift to equip and doff PPE for breaks
- Employers have to offer a separation between working and private clothing as well as separate storage for both
- Employers have to offer cleaning facilities that allow to comply with hygiene rules that result from the risk assessment.
Worker rights and duties
- It is of special importance that you collaborate with your employer and respect restricted areas as this avoids exposure to carcinogens at work. Your employer restrict drinking and eating in work areas for the reason to avoid oral uptake of hazardous substances.
- In order to prevent spreading carcinogens out of work areas, your employer installed the strict separation of working and private clothing so that you consequently not spread contamination of dust in your private household. This protects your family and friends.
- Rules of your employer how to correctly use machinery, tools, hazardous substance, transport vehicles and further working equipment are a direct result from the risk assessment. They should not be used other than for their intented use.
- You could support your employer by offering to be trained in first aid measures, fire-fighting procedures or emergency cases.
Personal protective equipment
Sometimes substitution is not possible and technical and organisational measures are not sufficient to reduce exposure levels. Then you need to use personal protection. Personal protective equipment can only be used as supplemental to measures higher up in the hierarchy and considered to be a last resort.
Employer duties
- Employers have to only provide PPE that is not physically demanding (for example: in case you need to wear respiratory protection (RPE) over more than two hours it should be ambient independent) and that is individually fitting to protect your eyes, skin and lung.
- Employers have to ensure that PPE and RPE is stored in a proper way, maintained according to the results of the risk assessment and replaced when broken.
- Employers have to secure that medical surveillance is offered in order to detect possible negative health effects early. For some substances, making use of medical surveillance even after change of work or retirement can be beneficial for your health as some work-related cancer types have a long latency period.
Worker rights and duties
- Correctly equip and doff your personal protection gear. This includes specifically the sequence of equipping and doffing (for example clothing prior to helmet) and storing in dedicated ways and places (for example helmet with opening facing downwards)
- You have a right of a fit test for your personal protection gear. You can contribute to a more efficient protection, if you consider changing your look (e.g. shaving your facial hair will allow for a much better respiratory protection or artificial fingernails and heavy jewellery will impair disinfection efficiency).
Working with carcinogens
Employer duties
- Employers have to update the risk assessment not only when working conditions change but regularly. It is possible that a new technological measure or a less hazardous substitute is available and therefore enable you to be less exposed.
- If after risk assessment, your employer cannot substitute or eliminate the carcinogen or containment is not possible, a secondary tool to reduce exposure are regular exposure measurement and complying with limit values.
Worker rights and duties
- By complying with your employers rules, you are empowered to influence your own safety and health.
- You have to be aware of your responsibility also for your co-workers’ health, especially if apprentices or young colleagues learn from your way of working.
Work jointly with your employer and safety advisor on a safe working environment that minimises exposure risks for you and your co-workers and helps your company comply with legal requirements - You could support your employer by offering to be trained in first aid measures, fire-fighting procedures or emergency cases.
- If your employer uses purchased chemicals, the safety data sheet (SDS) should contain all information to support a proper risk assessment. You could read and check the labels and whether uses are covered correctly (for further reference, check here) as well.
- Workers should not be impaired in their ability to react or be diligent due to health restrictions (e.g. alcohol, drugs, medication). You are obliged to inform your employer of health restrictions that impair with your ability to react or be diligent, as well in the case of medication to prevent unexpected events (for example accidents)
