Add to Favorites
Please login to add this content to your favorites

Common occupational chemical hazards

The ILO’s 2021 report, Exposure to hazardous chemicals at work and resulting health impacts: A global review, identified the top ten workplace chemical exposures which should be considered a priority: 

Asbestos

  • Causes over 200,000 deaths per year from mesothelioma, cancers and asbestosis.
  • Despite being phased out in more than 50 countries, workers continue to be exposed in different industries, including mining, construction and textiles.

Silica

  • Silica exposure is most extensive in occupations involving manual labour, for example in construction, sandblasting and mining operations.
  • Over 65,000 deaths occur annually from occupational silica exposure, due to silicosis and cancer.

Heavy metals and e-waste

  • Workers can be exposed to different heavy metals in the workplace, including arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.
  • Workers in numerous industries are at risk of serious health impacts from these hazardous chemicals.

Solvents

  • High solvent exposure occupations include painters, lacquerers, printers, dry cleaners, footwear manufacturers, occupations in graphics and plastic product works.
  • Health impacts depend on solvent type, but they have linked to cancer, kidney and liver damage and reproductive dysfunction.

Dyes

  • Dyes are commonly used in the textile, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industries.
  • Azo dyes degrade to release carcinogenic substances.

Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs)

  • The recent increase of MNM production in a wide variety of industries represents a novel exposure risk for workers.
  • Limited data exists on the health impacts of MNMs.

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS)

  • Workers in chemical industries, firefighters and ski-wax technicians are particularly at risk of hazardous PFAS exposures.
  • They have been linked to a variety of cancers, as well as immune, endocrine and reproductive dysfunction.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals

  • Substances from many different chemical groups that can act at very low doses to impact the functioning of the endocrine system.
  • EDCs have been implicated in multiple reproductive disorders in men and women, as well as cancers, neurodevelopmental disorders and obesity.

Pesticides

  • Approximately 1.8 billion people are engaged in agricultural activities worldwide and most use pesticides.
  • Pesticides are considered a major public health concern, with serious health impacts including pesticide poisonings, cancers and neurotoxic effects.

Workplace air pollution

  • Pollution of air in the workplace, either indoors in the work premises or during work outdoors, can cause a range of health impacts.

Change resources level
You have changed the resources available. The content, tools and more information pages suggested may have changed in order to make up the most cost effective management scheme.