In a bid to put a spotlight on women's occupational cancer, protesters from the Hazards Campaign hung up their bras outside a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conference to urge the HSE to take a more hands-on approach to tackling occupational diseases.
The protest was held outside the British Library where the HSE was holding an event to discuss ways to reduce instances of work-related cancer.
The Hazards Campaign claims that the HSE has taken minimal action to prevent workers being exposed to carcinogenic agents in the workplace.
Heading up the campaign, activist Hilda Palmer said, "The HSE is dithering, denying and delaying over occupational cancer, and employers and Government are also guilty of doing almost nothing on prevention for all work-cancers. But this "3 monkeys" approach is especially deadly for work-related cancer in women which has been completely ignored, under-researched and so much less likely to be targeted for preventative action."
In response, a spokesperson for the regulator said, "The HSE recognises that more can be done to make a bigger impact in tackling occupational disease – that's why we've hosted this event. We wanted to get a range of people, experts and those from industry to consider and discuss ways by which instances of work-related cancer and occupational disease may be reduced. The HSE sees itself as a catalyst to this – it can't do it alone."
More than 12,000 people die from occupational cancer each year and approximately 450,000 new cases of work-related ill health are reported annually.
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