The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (Anses) recommends creating a new “tableau de maladie professionnelle” — the French official schedule that sets out which exposures qualify for automatic recognition of an occupational disease — for skin cancer caused by occupational exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. That is reported by the French trade publication actuEL HSE. The conclusions come two years after France’s Ministry of Labour asked Anses to carry out the review. According to the publication, the table should cover three types of skin cancer, and exposure to both natural sunlight and artificial UV sources.
What is a “tableau de maladie professionnelle”?
France’s social security system works with official “tableaux de maladies professionnelles”: schedules that set out, disease by disease, which exposures, which occupations and which time limits apply. If a worker meets those conditions, the disease is presumed to be work-related and the worker does not have to prove the link themselves. According to France’s Ministry of Labour, more than 35 of these schedules make it possible to recognise an occupational cancer. If a condition is not listed in a schedule, or not all conditions are met, the only route left is an individual assessment by a regional recognition committee (CRRMP), a heavier process. Skin cancer already appears in existing schedules linked to specific substances, but a schedule for UV radiation is missing. The schedules are adopted by the French government. Anses provides the scientific basis for them, and the occupational disease committee (CS4) of France’s Council for Working Conditions (COCT) advises on amending or adding schedules. Anses’s UV conclusions feed into that committee’s work programme.
Which occupations are most exposed?
According to the EU initiative against work-related cancer, those who spend most of the working day outdoors face the greatest risk: workers in agriculture, forestry, construction and civil engineering, and shipping. Occupations that work outdoors part of the time, such as delivery workers, police, emergency responders, teachers and hospitality staff, are also at risk. Artificial UV radiation is released, among other things, during arc or laser welding and cutting, material testing, UV disinfection in the food industry and water treatment, and industrial paint curing.
Context
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) already classifies both natural and artificial UV radiation as “Group 1”: proven to cause cancer in humans. In Europe, an estimated 36 million workers are exposed to UV radiation from the sun at work and around 1 million to artificial sources, according to the same EU initiative. IARC figures show that more than 470,000 new cases of skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma) were recorded in Europe in 2022.
For HSE professionals outside France, the core of this recommendation is relevant well beyond the French recognition system: UV radiation is a common and often underestimated occupational hazard worldwide for anyone who works outdoors, from agriculture to construction and delivery work, and for those working with artificial UV sources. A French recognition schedule, if adopted by the government, could also fuel discussion in other countries about recognising UV-related skin cancer as an occupational disease. Separately, the recommendation underlines the importance of prevention, such as shade, adjusted working hours, protective clothing and shielding of artificial sources.
Source: Skin cancer from UV: Anses recommends occupational disease recognition table (actuEL HSE), 16 October 2026
Additional research: French Ministry of Labour’s parliamentary question and answer on the Anses referral and the recognition schedules for occupational cancers (Senate, June 2025); Anses dossier on the role of scientific expertise in the recognition schedules; IARC classification, occupations and European figures on occupational UV exposure via the EU initiative against work-related cancer (stopcarcinogensatwork.eu).
