When working with carcinogenic substances, both employers and employees have rights and duties. Your well-being is guaranteed by certain duties of your employer laid down in the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxicants Directive (CMRD). However, it is also important that you act according to the workplace instructions.
Employee rights and duties
Every employer must make a risk assessment. In this risk assessment all potential health risks are identified and measures must be put into place to prevent these risks. This includes hazardous substances, but also mental risks and physical risks amongst others.
Instructions and training
You must get instructions and training before you start a task. Workers must participate in these trainings and must follow the instructions. Repetition of training and adaption of operational instructions help you to stay alert with the risks from tasks.
Medical surveillance and documentation
When working with a carcinogen, your employer must offer medical surveillance. It serves to inform you about potential health risks related to your task. Depending on the type of work and risks of exposure, the medical surveillance can exist of checks based on a survey or regular medical checkups. Should you ever experience health problems that might be work-related even after changing the company or retirement, the documentation duty for tasks involving carcinogens will ensure that you receive recognition for an occupational disease.
Cooperation
Please be aware that cooperation with your employer is your duty as well. Workplace and personal hygiene protocols (for example, do not carry work clothes home) are one key factor to ensure your health and that of your family and should be followed at any time.
Read more about the prevention strategies
Duties for employers
Ensuring the well-being of your employees is guaranteed by certain duties laid down in the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxicants Directive (CMRD). Read more about it here. Investigation of hazardous substances and putting the right measures into place, is not that easy and may require a lot of expertise. Therefore, it can be useful to ask the help of an occupational physician: a health and safety expert specialised in substances.
Please note that national requirements may deviate from the Directive. If this is the case, please consult with your national authorities about regulatory requirements for hazardous substances.
Documentation of tasks involving carcinogens is mandatory. In this list we collected examples of national solutions to support the documentation.
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