Occupational Survey in the Waste Management Sector
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PARC Occupational Survey in the Waste Management Sector v1
IRAS ID
334114
Contact name
Elizabeth Leese
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
HSE
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The proposal presented here and within the supporting documentation describes a study which forms part of a pan-European project called PARC (Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals). One work strand within this study is focused on occupational exposure.
The European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan, with measures along the entire life cycle of products aiming for the product of today to be the raw material of tomorrow. The waste management sector is expected to play a pivotal role in this plan and it is anticipated that as this plan grows, so too will the number of waste management workers exposed to chemicals such as lithium, aluminium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, cadmium, antimony, mercury and lead.
The goal is to provide new exposure data on e-waste management workers through biological and environmental monitoring. To understand if regulation in place limits the presence of harmful substances within the circular economy and to provide scientifically based recommendations for employers, workers and policy.
The study on e-waste will be conducted in 13 countries: UK, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland from 2023-2026.
Please find the study work-plan attached with this ethics application (Appendix 1). It outlines the study protocol for PARC. Please note however, that this protocol is for the entire PARC Waste Management work strand (both plastics & e-waste), and some aspects of the protocol are not relevant to the UK's involvement in this study. For example we are only collecting samples from e-waste and we will not collect blood or hair samples (please see Appendix 1a for UK specific). The consent forms, information sheets and questionnaires presented as separate appendices within this ethics application have also been adapted to be specific to the UK study.REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0200
Date of REC Opinion
29 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion