88a - Joining forces in prevention of substance-related occupational diseases: the Dutch national expertise centre “Lexces”

In the Dutch national expertise centre “Lexces”, five excellent Dutch centres of expertise from different fields in occupational science, hygiene and health, combine their knowledge to jointly work on prevention of substance-related occupational diseases. The ultimate goal of this cooperation is creating a future in which people no longer become ill from substances to which they are exposed in the workplace. Lexces aims to develop, combine and actively share knowledge on substance-related occupational diseases, strengthen early warning systems for exposure risks and health effects, and contribute to occupational healthcare. To this end, Lexces has its own scientific research program that addresses a wide range of topics within the broad field of substance-related occupational diseases. The research program connects primary prevention (risk identification and prevention of exposure), secondary prevention (early warning) and tertiary prevention (occupational healthcare) in several multidisciplinary research projects. Many of these projects involve active cooperation with professionals in the field, such as occupational hygienists, occupational physicians and sector organizations. In this way, Lexces aims to bridge gaps between scientific knowledge and practise and contribute to practice-based research. In addition to focussing on prevention of substance-related occupational diseases and dissemination of knowledge, the scientific knowledge that is developed within the Lexces research programme also contributes to the implementation of a new compensation scheme for victims of substance-related occupational diseases, that has been introduced in the Netherlands in 2023. In this session, the strategic themes, objectives and latest developments in the current research projects of Lexces will be presented.