EU Parliament adopts tighter limits on carcinogenic workplace chemicals

In a move to improve occupational health, the European Parliament has endorsed tighter exposure limits for a range of carcinogenic substances used in battery and steel manufacturing. New caps will apply to cobalt compounds, hydrocarbons from metal production and 1,4-dioxane, setting permissible levels for an eight-hour workday. The agreement, reached after negotiations in June, provides a six-year transition period during which higher limits remain in force.

Final consent from EU member states is pending, after which they will have two years to transpose the rules into national legislation, with some substances receiving longer timelines. Officials estimate the rules could prevent roughly 1,700 lung-cancer cases and thousands of other work-related diseases over the next four decades. Cancer remains the leading cause of work-related deaths in the EU.