The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health keeps a regulatory ASA register of employees who have been exposed to carcinogenic substances and methods in their work.
Description
The ASA register contains information about exposure agents and work methods as well as exposed employees. The information is obtained from employers who perform exposure assessments and report exposed employees to the register retrospectively each year. This page contains the open dataset compiled from the ASA register data available for downloading as well as graphs showing the numbers of exposure to carcinogenic substances based on different variables.The ASA register dates back to 1979. The most recent regulation on the ASA register is the act on a list and register of employees exposed to carcinogenic substances and methods (452/2020). The Act mandates that the employer keep a separate list of carcinogens and mutagens used and present at the workplace as well as of employees exposed to them.
The law (452/2020) that entered into force in 2020, amended and expanded the definition of agents subject to registration. It should be noted that data meeting the requirements of the new act has only been added to the register starting in 2020. Data regarding earlier years 2010—2019 is based on previous regulation, which required registering exposure to agents listed in Decrees of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
Furthermore, the data does not include persons who have been registered as exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.
What do the indicators show?
The data consists of reports made to the ASA register in 2010–2022. It shows the annual numbers and proportional ratios (per 1,000 people at work) of employees registered as exposed in the different occupational safety and health districts. In addition, the distribution of employees by industry is shown for each occupational safety and health region.Exposure agent-specific data is linked to the occupational class (Occupational classification 2010, 4-digit level) and sector (Industrial classification 2008, main category level). The indicators also show the most common occupations, exposure agents and industries of those reported as having been exposed. If there have been 1—4 exposed persons, the number is recorded as <5. If no reports of an exposure agent has been received in any year included in the dataset, the exposure agent is not included in the list.
The list of agents may differ for different years and only agents subject to reporting in a specific year are shown in the list for that year. The greatest changes to substances and work methods subject to registration occurred in 2020 when the definition of carcinogenic factors changed in connection with the amendment of the ASA law (452/2020). New working methods added with the amendment include tasks that involve exposure to crystalline silicon dioxide dust, i.e. primarily quartz dust, substances generated in a combustion process, used motor oils and diesel engine exhaust fumes. New agents to be reported include, for example, formaldehyde and cobalt. Starting from 2020, the working method regarding wood dust exposure applies to all hardwood dust, i.e. deciduous wood dust. Starting from 2020, stainless steel welders are reported only as exposed to the work method in question and not to the individual substances contained in welding fumes and people exposed to cytostatic agents in their work are reported as exposed to a work method that includes all of the used individual substances.
The number of employed people is based on employment statistics by Statistics Finland. The ASA register data is continously updated as registrations may also be recorded retroactively. The data corresponds with the exposure data for 2010–2022 on 13 February 2025.
Acknowledgements
The publication of this webpage in the Work-life Knowledge Service has been partly funded by Cancer Foundation Finland. The work was also carried out partly in collaboration with The Finnish Cancer Registry.
