Forum: Recognise UV exposure as significant workplace hazard

Singapore has been rightly focused on heat stress among outdoor workers. But, in doing so, we are overlooking a far more widespread and dangerous hazard – solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

According to the Singapore Cancer Registry, 4,128 skin cancer cases were diagnosed between 2019 and 2023. That is about 825 cases a year, or two or three new cases every day. More than 90 per cent are linked to UV exposure.

Yet UV risk barely features in public discourse.

Solar radiation consists of visible light, UV and infrared (IR). Both UV and IR are invisible, but their effects differ sharply.

IR drives heat stress ^_ acute, dramatic and immediately life-threatening. Heatstroke and exhaustion demand urgent attention, and rightly so.

But UV radiation is a slow, cumulative hazard. It causes no immediate alarm, yet over time leads to skin cancer, eye damage and premature ageing. By the time these conditions are diagnosed, the damage is often irreversible.

This difference in visibility has distorted our priorities.

Each year, Singapore records only a handful of occupational heat-illness cases, but several hundred cases of skin cancer. Yet one dominates headlines and safety campaigns, while the other remains largely ignored.

Why are we so focused on what we can feel, and so complacent about what we cannot see?

Both risks are measurable and preventable. Heat stress is actively managed through hydration, acclimatisation and work-rest cycles. UV exposure can be reduced through shade provision, work scheduling, and simple protective measures such as wide-brimmed hats, UV-protective clothing, sunglasses and sunscreen.

But unlike heat stress, UV protection is rarely mandated, systematically assessed or enforced.

This must change.

The Ministry of Manpower and the Workplace Safety and Health Council should take the lead in recognising occupational UV exposure as a significant workplace hazard. This includes developing clear guidelines, integrating UV risk into existing heat stress management frameworks, and requiring employers to implement appropriate control measures for outdoor work.

If we are serious about protecting workers, we cannot continue to prioritise only the risks that are immediate and visible, while neglecting those that are chronic and far more prevalent.

The hazard is not just the heat we feel. It is also the radiation we do not see. And the cost of ignoring it is already far too high.

Solomon Tan Kia Tang