Employers urged to protect staff from sun exposure

UK employers have been urged to do more to help protect staff who work outdoors from the potentially harmful effects of sun exposure.

New research from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) claims many of the 2,000 people who die as a result of skin cancer every year will have suffered harmful exposure to the sun whilst at work.

With a hot summer predicted this year the TUC has published new guidance for employers and unions on how to protect the thousands of people who work outdoors from the risks of UV radiation.

The TUC claims it is "simply not good enough for employers to say they have no control over the weather or leave it up to individual workers to protect themselves from getting sunburnt".

"Employers have a legal duty to protect the health of their employees and there is much they can do from changing working patterns to providing sun canopies, lightweight protective clothing and sunscreen," a statement declares.

Every year there are around 100,000 new cases of skin cancer, with 8,000 of these in the form of malignant melanoma, the most serious and fastest growing form, the TUC reports.

Figures show the number of men with malignant melanoma has increased five-fold in the last 25 years, with the number of women diagnosed going up three-fold in the same period.

Commenting, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "This is not a case of workers getting a little hot under the collar. Skin cancer is the fastest growing kind of cancer in the UK and is killing more and more people every year.

"While most of us are now wise to the need to cover up and splash on the sun lotion on holiday, employers tend not to give their sun-exposed employees much of a thought. This may be because unlike injuries caused by a fall at work, the damaging effect of the sun is not obvious until many years after the damage is done.

"Taking simple precautions like looking at what time of the day outside work has to be done, providing canopies, cool comfortable clothing and sun screen won't cost the earth and could help save thousands of lives needlessly being cut short."

The new guidance recommends staff not working during the hottest parts of the day and the provision of shelter and sunscreen dispensers.

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