Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — Content from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (public domain).
Key points
* While there is no single root cause of cancer, there are a wide range of exposures that may contribute to a worker’s risk of cancer, including workplace exposures.
* An estimated 2-8% of all cancers worldwide are caused by exposures to carcinogens (substances known to cause cancer) in the workplace.
* Cancers that occur due to workplace exposures can be prevented.
Overview 
Cancers that occur due to workplace exposures can be prevented. There are a wide range of exposures that may contribute to a person’s risk of cancer. This includes but is not limited to:
* Modifiable behaviors, such as tobacco use
* Environmental exposures, such as ultraviolet light
* Infectious agents, such as viruses
* Inherited genetic mutations
* Workplace exposures
Some specific occupations that have been linked to increased cancer risk include:
* Firefighting
* Rubber manufacturing
* Paving
* Roofing
* Painting
* Chimney sweeping
Spotlight Firefighting Exposures and Cancer In 2022, an International Agency for Research on Cancer Working Group of experts assembled to re-evaluate occupational exposure as a firefighter as a carcinogen. This webinar gives an overview of the groups decision and evidence to classify firefighting as a human carcinogen (Group I). Learn more Firefighting Exposures and Cancer: An overview of IARC’s evaluation and its Impact Selected reports
* Current Intelligence Bulletin 65: Occupational Exposure to Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers
* Evaluation of Indoor Environmental Quality Concerns in an Elementary School
* Mortality and cancer incidence in a pooled cohort of US firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950–2009)
* NIOSHTIC-2 search results related to occupational cancer below. NIOSHTIC-2 is a database of occupational safety and health publications funded in whole or in part by NIOSH.
* Occupational cancer
* Cluster studies
* Exposure assessment studies * Cohort studies * Control studies
Resources Occupational * NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards * OSHA Safety and Health Topics on Carcinogens * NORA Cancer, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Other Chronic Disease Prevention Cross-Sector Council Occupational surveillance * National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer * National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) * NIOSH Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) * Collecting and Using Industry and Occupation Data * A Cancer Registrar’s Guide to Collecting Industry and Occupation General * CDC Cancer webpage * National Cancer Institute