Occupational cancers —prevention starts at the workplace
ACOEM creates checklist for prevention, screenings, reducing risks
Cancer's high toll on life, health, and employer costs make it worthwhile to remember that many cancers are preventable, a fact that the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) chose to make the subject of its annual Labor Day checklist.
The Elk Grove, IL-based ACOEM issues a checklist each Labor Day, selecting a different health topic affecting worker health and workplace safety.
"The identification of occupational cancers and the reduction of occupational cancer rates in the United States due to uncontrolled exposures has been a major public health success," according to ACOEM president Tee L. Guidotti, MD, MPH, FACOEM. "[H]ow to do it is well known, but more remains to be done."
Prevention up to employers and employees
A report commissioned in 2005 by the American Cancer Society and C-Change, a nonprofit organization with missions relating to cancer research and prevention, presents the costs of cancer versus the cost of screenings to employers. The report concludes the savings in medical and non-medical benefits costs from early detection of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer essentially equals the costs of screening.
Also, people with cancer represent about 1.6% of the commercial population in the United States, but generate 10% of employers/insurers' annual medical claim costs, the report states.
With an eye toward employer savings and resulting broad improvements in cancer prevention among American workers, ACOEM developed its 2006 checklist in conjunction with the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, which has developed the CEO Cancer Gold Standard (www.cancergoldstandard.org), a series of cancer-related recommendations for employers to use in cancer prevention. (See ACOEM checklist for cancer prevention below.)
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ACOEM Checklist for Cancer Prevention at Work Prevention Employers:• Establish and enforce tobacco-free worksite policies; ensure that health benefit plans include coverage at no cost for evidence-based tobacco treatments; establish workplace-based tobacco cessation initiatives • Sustain a culture that supports healthy food choices; provide access to nutrition/weight control programs • Sustain a culture that promotes physical activity; demonstrate commitment to eliminating barriers to active lifestyles Employees: • Don't use tobacco products and avoid environmental tobacco smoke; if you use tobacco, identify a program that will help you quit; find out if your health benefit plans cover smoking cessation help • Maintain a healthy diet and weight; look for healthy food choices at work; find out if your company offers access to weight-control programs; set healthy eating goals. • Exercise regularly; if you are not physically active, design a personal workout program that is appropriate for you. Screening and Early Detection Employers:• Sustain a culture that promotes appropriate cancer-screening behaviors. • Ensure that health benefit plans include cancer-screening provisions that adhere to the American Cancer Society or U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines. • Offer health benefit plans that eliminate cost as a barrier to accessing preventive/screening tests and exams. Employees: • Get screened for certain cancers at the appropriate time • If you are not being screened appropriately, talk to your physician to determine which cancers, if any, you should be screened for • Check your health benefit plans to find out how cancer screening tests and exams are covered. Access to Quality Care and Clinical Trials Employers:• Provide education and promotion of cancer clinical trials. • Offer benefit plans that eliminate cost as a barrier to accessing clinical trials. • Ensure that health benefit plans provide access to cancer care at Commission on Cancer- and/or NCI- approved cancer centers Employees: • If you are healthy, educate yourself about where you can get quality cancer treatment should you ever need it • If you have been diagnosed with cancer, check with your company to determine how your cancer treatment will be covered • Learn about cancer clinical trials and, if you wish, discuss trial participation with your physician. Reduce Exposure to Workplace Carcinogens Employers:• Eliminate use of cancer-causing substances; if not feasible, control exposure, preferably using engineering controls • Ensure that all state and federal OSHA requirements are met or exceeded to reduce exposure to cancer-causing agents Employees: • Learn about the chemicals you work with, understand their hazards and how to work with them safely. |
"Cancer remains a leading cause of lost productive, and otherwise vital, years, including among younger workers," says Guidotti. "We know that many cancers are not recognized as arising out of work because they occur years after exposure, often after retirement. We need to recommit ourselves to prevent cancer and to make work as safe as it can be, and this year's checklist is a first step."
Controlling Cancer in the Workplace is posted on ACOEM's web site at www.acoem.org/news/laborday.asp
Additional Resource
"Cancer Screening: Payer Cost /Benefit thru Employee Benefits Programs," C-Change and the American Cancer Society, 2005. Available online at www.c-changetogether.org/about_ndc/newsroom/article/MillimanReport.pdf.
Cancer's high toll on life, health, and employer costs make it worthwhile to remember that many cancers are preventable, a fact that the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) chose to make the subject of its annual Labor Day checklist.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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