Being SunSmart Working Outdoors

 Outdoor Workers and Sun Protection Project

Excess and harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure represents a significant workplace hazard for outdoor workers. In recognition of this, one of the SunSmart Partnership’s (Cancer Society and HSC) key objectives for skin cancer control is to help reduce the risk of excess solar UV exposure among outdoor workers, including through increasing the proportion of sun protective outdoor work environments.

In 2003-4, research funded by the Cancer Society (Wellington Division) and Auckland University, and carried out in collaboration with the Social and Behavioural Research in Cancer Group, Otago University, was undertaken to examine outdoor workers’ perceptions of non-melanoma skin cancer risk. The study found that workers’ perceived workplace risk priorities and relative lack of concern about sun protection indicated a need to design interventions to operate within existing workplace structures and networks.

In 2004, the Cancer Society also made a submission to the Department of Labour on the Department’s Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015 regarding the need for strengthened regulations to limit the UV exposure of the outdoor workforce. The Society is currently planning further advocacy work in this area in conjunction with the Department of Labour.