A significant portion of occupational diseases are related to skin cancers. Exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the most important risk factor for developing occupational skin cancer. Outdoor workers have been identified as high-risk population for non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), more precisely described as keratinocyte carcinoma (KC), manifesting as actinic keratosis (AK, intra-epidermal cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)) and invasive SCC or basal cell carcinoma (BCC). As the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labor Organization (ILO) have recently published, working under the sun causes 1 in 3 deaths from NMSC [1]. However, to date, in many countries, there are still substantial barriers to adequate prevention, workers’ education, screening, reporting, acknowledgement and compensation for NMSC in UVR-exposed workers. Currently, a Global Call to Action to protect outdoor workers from skin cancer by solar UVR exposure has been launched addressing the pivotal issues to improve health and safety and unmet needs of outdoor workers, supported by a wide spectrum of dermatological, patient and social partners institutions [2]. WHO ICD 11 now offers a perfect platform for reporting KC-cases with occupational causation (SCC and BCC separate entities). The ILO “Diagnostic and Exposure Criteria…” guidance [3] provides the details and allows to distinguish occupational from non-occupational cases. Only reporting the workers suffering from skin cancer will raise political comprehension and acknowledgement of this growing health issue, and hopefully, allow to overcome current barriers.
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