Slides for exposome lectures at the IOHA2015 conference, London.

1. The occupational exposome:
Is it useful?
John Cherrie
PDC Session: The exposome and exposure in the workplace

2. Summary…
Ÿ What is the “occupational exposome”?
Ÿ How can we design this type of study?
Ÿ Why would researchers be interested?
Ÿ Why would an employer do this?
Ÿ A practical strategy to intervene
Ÿ A Total Worker Health programme

3. Occupation is a common
exposure for everyone…
Ÿ Around 78% of all people (16-64 yrs)
currently work
Ÿ Almost everyone works at some point in their life
Ÿ Jobs are different today from the past

5. 1% of people work in
agriculture…

6. And none of us get our
hands dirty…
55%

7. Future workplace risks…
Ÿ increasing use of remote working/virtual teams
Ÿ greater demand for highly educated workers
Ÿ more part-time/temporary jobs, with organisations
bringing in specialists for short-term projects
Ÿ increasing migration for work
Ÿ people are working longer as final salary
pensions end and the boundaries between
employment and retirement blur
Ÿ continued youth unemployment
www.kingsfund.org.uk/time-to-think-differently/trends/
professional-attitudes-and-workforce

8. We are living longer and
working longer…
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_237747.pdf

9. Occupational diseases…
Ÿ Cancer and chronic respiratory disease
Ÿ Breast cancer – estimate around 2000 cases in
Britain caused by shift work involving night work
Ÿ Neurodegenerative disease
Ÿ Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc.
Ÿ Caused by physical inactivity, minor work-related
head trauma?
Ÿ Cardiovascular disease
Ÿ Exposure due to exposure to dusts?
Rushton, et al. (2012). Occupational cancer burden in Great Britain. British
Journal of Cancer, 107(S1), S3–S7.

10. What is the occupational
exposome…
Ÿ And how could it help with better
investigation of occupational disease?
Ÿ Prospective collection and storage of
exposure information about workers
Ÿ Prospective biobanking of human tissue
samples
Ÿ Reconstruction of past exposome

11. Exposome in birth cohorts

12. The occupational exposome

13. Total Worker Health…
Ÿ NIOSH defines TWH as…
Ÿ “a strategy integrating occupational safety and
health protection with health promotion to prevent
worker injury and illness and to advance health
and well-being.”
Ÿ Integrated provision and management
Ÿ Needs strong management and worker “buy-
in”
Ÿ Needs strong effort to get employee
participation
"Total Worker Health is more than the sum of its parts
— protection and promotion— it is a synthesis of all
aspects of health that create worker well-being”
John Howard, MD, NIOSH Director

14. What does it involve…
Ÿ Preventing work-related illnesses and injuries
Ÿ Supporting healthy behavior, e.g. health
screening, healthy lifestyle choices
Ÿ Reducing work-related stress, e.g. fostering
social support among workers
Ÿ Expanding work-related resources and
opportunities, e.g. child and elder care
services, job training, adequate wages

15. Summary…
Ÿ Occupational exposome and TWH are
two aspects of the same paradigm
Ÿ We need to realise that work and
health are closely intertwined for
everyone
Ÿ Work can and should have a net
positive effect on health