France's Food and Environment Agency Backs a Dedicated Occupational Table for UV-Linked Skin Cancer

Workers who spend their days on building sites, in vineyards or behind a welding torch could soon find it far easier to have skin cancer recognised as a job-related illness in France. On 15 October 2026, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (Anses) recommended creating a standalone official occupational disease table covering cancers caused by workplace exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

The proposal takes in both natural sunlight and artificial UV sources, and covers three distinct forms of skin cancer. Anses had been asked to carry out the review by the French labour ministry two years earlier.

Three cancers, one established link

Anses concluded that the connection between occupational UV exposure and three skin cancers — squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and melanoma — is proven. The point of a dedicated table is to make recognition and financial compensation markedly simpler for affected employees.

France currently has no UV-specific table at all. Skin cancer is picked up only through tables tied to particular substances. In the absence of a dedicated entry, staff must go through a cumbersome case-by-case review by the relevant regional committee (CRRMP), which requires a permanent reduction in working capacity of at least 25%.

More than 35 tables already allow work-related cancers to be recognised in France, according to the labour ministry. No specific table or accompanying decree has yet been announced for the Anses proposal.

Recognition carries substantial financial consequences. Under the occupational disease route, sick pay stands at 60% of the daily wage from the first day and rises to 80% from day 29. Ordinary sick pay, by contrast, pays just 50% after a three-day waiting period.

Millions outdoors, thousands under lamps

Figures from the Dares Sumer survey put the number of people working outdoors and exposed to the weather in France at around 3.5 million. Roughly 150,000 more work with artificial UV sources.

Anses lists agriculture, horticulture, forestry, construction, postal and transport services, shipping, and hospitality and tourism among the sectors most affected by natural UV — including seasonal workers at the grape harvest or on ski slopes.

Delivery staff, police, emergency services and teachers also fall into the risk groups, along with employees in culture, the arts, social work, industry and telecommunications.

Artificial UV shows up chiefly in disinfection and sterilisation processes, horticulture, welding, engraving, material and laser cutting, and paint curing. In welding, the agency also classifies melanoma of the eye as a proven consequence of radiation exposure.

A European scale

The health hazards of ultraviolet radiation are documented internationally. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) places both natural and artificial UV radiation in Group 1 of carcinogenic substances.

For 2022, the IARC recorded more than 470,000 new skin cancer cases across Europe, split between melanomas and non-melanoma carcinomas. According to an EU initiative against work-related cancer, around 36 million people in work across Europe are exposed to solar radiation, while roughly one million come into occupational contact with artificial UV sources.

Beyond the legal classification as an occupational disease, Anses is calling for supporting measures in workplace health protection. It recommends systematic dermatological examinations within occupational medicine, and a targeted expansion of corresponding training for dermatologists.