Twelve Thousand Workers Die Each Year from Lung Disease

Breathing in dust, gases, vapors and fumes at work can cause life-changing lung disease or make existing conditions worse. Do the right thing and protect your workers from work-related lung disease.

• Occupational lung diseases typically have a long latency (they take a long time to develop following exposure to the agent that caused them). Therefore, current deaths reflect the effect of past working conditions.
• Estimates of self-reported ‘breathing or lung problems’ according to the Labour Force Survey currently show: around 18,000 new cases each year; 41,000 new and long standing cases among those who worked in the previous year, and 147,000 among those who have ever worked