Skip to main content
Welding fumes and the danger of cancer
TONY BURKE reports on the new initiative to raise awareness among welders, GPs and employers
A welder at work in Bosch Thermotechnology in Clay Cross, Chesterfield in 2018

ENGINEERING and shipbuilding workers are being urged to get checked for cancer, notably those workers who work — or worked — as welders.

Welding fumes are shown to cause cancers — and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), along with the Alex Ferry Foundation, a charity linked to the CSEU, has launched the Breathe Safe campaign to raise awareness.

The campaign was launched on June 23 in Glasgow, with CSEU general secretary Ian Waddell saying: “We believe that the numbers of welders diagnosed with these conditions is the tip of the iceberg. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Platform working
Features / 5 May 2025
5 May 2025

TONY BURKE says an International Labour Conference next month will try for a new convention to protect often super-exploited workers providing services such as ride-hailing (taxis) such as Uber as well as fast food and package delivery

The Green Arrows, Salisbury 1977 / Pic © Analog Africa
Global Routes / 23 April 2025
23 April 2025

How underground bands formed a vital part of the struggle against white supremacy

Album Reviews / 3 March 2025
3 March 2025
New releases by Samba Touré, Santrofi, and Piers Faccini & Ballake Sissoko 
SCARING TRUMP: (Left to right) Brazil’s President Luiz Ina
Features / 24 February 2025
24 February 2025
The towering figures of the North American right and the South American left are set to clash this summer as Brazil hosts Brics, an alliance Trump is determined to smash, reports TONY BURKE
Similar stories
Office workers at their desks in London
Workplace Stress / 28 April 2025
28 April 2025

Research reveals stress kills three times the number of people than physical accidents at work

An asbestos warning sign
Features / 8 November 2024
8 November 2024
HANK ROBERTS warns that new research predicts a catastrophic rise in asbestos-related deaths among former pupils and teachers as school buildings deteriorate, bursting the ‘it’s safe if not disturbed’ myth