The need to ‘stop that noise’ is evident. Millions of Europe’s workers suffer from work-related hearing difficulties. Noise-induced hearing loss is amongst the most commonly reported occupational diseases in the European Union, and there are concerns other than hearing loss from noise exposure. Noise can also cause harm in other ways: it can interact with dangerous substances to cause harm to the ear; it can increase the risk of accidents by affecting communication. The range of jobs and workplaces where noise can be a problem is much broader than is commonly thought.
Noise-induced hearing loss remains one of the most prominent occupational diseases in Europe. However, noise is no longer perceived as the only source of work-related hearing damage and increasing attention is being paid to the risks of combined exposure to high-level noise and ototoxic substances, that is, those which can affect the structures and/or the function of the inner ear and the associated signal transmission pathways in the nervous system.
This publication aims to provide an up-to-date picture of our knowledge in this field. It includes: a description of the basic features of the physiological mechanisms leading to hearing impairment, current diagnostic tools, and an overview of the chemicals that may be deleterious to the inner ear, ranking the certainty of their ototoxic properties in a defined weight-of-evidence approach. The review also identifies the health effects resulting from exposure to multiple ototoxic substances and also from the interaction of ototoxic substances and noise, pointing out the work areas where exposure to ototoxic substances is likely. Finally, the report highlights gaps in our current knowledge for proposed future action and research.
This report provides an overview of the most important issues related to occupational safety and health
(OSH) for cleaning workers in terms of working conditions, risks and prevalence of exposures and health
outcomes, and identifies information gaps and challenges.
Cleaning includes a broad range of activities performed in different work environments across all
sectors. The risks to which cleaners are exposed therefore depend on the tasks they perform and the
premises they work in. As most of the cleaning work is performed as contract cleaning, employers
sometimes face difficulties in controlling the OSH conditions in the "host companies" where their staff
work.
Accessing information on occupational accidents and diseases remains challenging as cleaning workers
are spread over different sectors and it is therefore difficult to put monitoring systems in place. In
addition, a significant part of the cleaning workforce is undeclared, especially in private households,
which also complicates data collection. Studies on work-related diseases indicate that MSDs, respiratory
diseases, including asthma, skin diseases and mental ill health are the most common work-related
health effects found in cleaners, and suggest a higher prevalence of health problems in cleaning workers
than in other sectors.
It is estimated that about 74,000 work-related deaths may be linked to hazardous substances at work each year in the EU – about 10 times more than workplace accidents. About 15% of European workers report handling chemical products for a quarter of their working time and 19% report breathing in dust, fumes and smoke in their workplaces. The 49 experts from 21 European countries who participated in this forecast highlighted particles and dusts as major emerging concerns and put nanoparticles at the top of the list of emerging risks. Other main groups of emerging risks identified were carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances, and the increasing use of allergenic and sensitising substances. Specific occupations of emerging concerns were also highlighted and include the increasing waste management industry, construction, and service activities such as cleaning or home nursing. In addition, there is a growing number of workers in SMEs and sub-contracted jobs, where the management of chemical risks is generally poorer. Last but not least, concern about multiple exposures is increasing as it was also shown in the three other forecasts on emerging biological, physical and psychosocial emerging risks.