IOSH launched No Time to Lose, a major new campaign, on 03 November 2014 at an event hosted by Andrew George MP at the House of Commons.
Cancer caused by work exposures claims the lives of 666,000 people a year worldwide – one death every 47 seconds. No Time to Lose aims to get the causes of occupational cancer better understood and help businesses take action.
The event brought together industry leaders, parliamentarians, regulators, professional organisations and trade bodies to raise awareness and share experiences of preventing occupational cancers. IOSH called for joint action to avoid the future human toll and the premature and unnecessary loss of skilled and experienced people from our workforce due to this terrible disease.
To find out more about the No Time to Lose campaign, and to get free resources go to http://tinyurl.com/NoTimeToLose-website
http://tinyurl.com/NTTL-launch-transcript
Film transcript.
Jan Chmiel
Chief Executive, IOSH
Occupational cancer is a hidden blight. And in our role, with 44,000 people engaged in organisations, we have access to knowledge, evidence and we have the potential to drive change as well. At IOSH, I want to make sure that we kick-start this campaign. But it’s only through collaboration that we’re able to really drive it forward and make it successful. So that’s what I see as the next step. We’ve drawn together experts and some of the evidence; we have the potential to change. But I think the next stage is how we work effectively with other organisations to really drive the implementation. So I see today as really the first step in a long, long journey. This isn’t going to be an issue that’s solved in one evening.
Dr Lesley Rushton
Imperial College
Our research has shown that occupational cancer is a real concern. And it’s very encouraging, at the beginning of the launch of the IOSH campaign, to find that so many companies have already signed up to the pledge and that there are others beginning to add to their names. And I hope that this will continue.
Ben Plowden
Director, Surface Planning and Strategy, Transport for London
I was very struck by the data that was outlined by Lesley Rushton around the volume of work-related cancers and the small number of carcinogens that account for the large volume of those work-related cancers. And the fact that if we just, for example, focus on compliance with existing standards, we will significantly reduce the rate of work-related cancer. So if we just do what we’ve got to do anyway, that will have a huge impact. Transport for London is supporting ‘No Time to Lose’ because, as a major employer, we have an obligation to our staff and our suppliers’ staff to make sure that they’re not exposed to these harmful carcinogens, particularly – as a transport organisation – from diesel. But also, as a major transport operator and authority, we’ve got to make sure that the vehicles that we manage, that we operate, that we regulate, are themselves not putting out harmful pollution onto the streets of London, where they can obviously damage the health of everybody else’s employees.
Matt Tyler
Managing Director, Dribuild Ltd
For me, it’s safety in our industry that’s been at the forefront at the whole of our construction industry. Health has probably been neglected for quite some time. So, for me, this campaign just launches that and gives us a good platform to build from.
Beverley Tucker
Health and Safety Manager, HB Projects Ltd
We wanted to focus more on health this year with our objectives for health; putting more of the emphasis on health rather than safety. And really getting the support from IOSH really gave us that drive and objectives and just giving us some ideas of where we can take it within the business, and the operational side of the business. Given that we work in construction, a lot of this means a lot to us.
Matt Tyler
Managing Director, Dribuild Ltd
I think we needed the support from IOSH. Having the support and the information from IOSH just makes our job a lot easier.
Ian Scott
Balfour Beatty plc
I think this is absolutely right – it’s very timely, it’s topical, and it’s covering all the issues which I’ve heard the speakers talk about. I make a pledge to support this particular initiative. I think it’s been extremely well-received, it’s been very good, we have a very wide mix of people here this evening. The presentations have been very good, the corporate information that’s come out will be good publicity information to cascade down to directors and senior managers across our operations.
Richard Jones
Head of Policy and Public Affairs, IOSH
I’m really encouraged by how many people we have got involved in this. I think the subject has grabbed people’s attention and we’ve reached out to our OSH community worldwide and have got supportive statements from about 10 different countries worldwide already. So I think this is just the start – I think we can go a lot further.
