As part of challenge 1.2, the Belgian Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue launched an interactive game to familiarise students with the measures to be taken to manage the risks of carcinogens in the workplace. The game is available in English, Dutch and French.
Play the game at:
Stopcarcinogens.be (English)
Stopcancerigenes.be (Français)
Stopcarcinogenen.be (Nederlands)
How to play the game
In the game, you take on the role of prevention advisor. You will need to identify potential unsafe situations involving carcinogenic substances in specific work environments (a construction site, a hospital and a factory) and advise your employer.
Upon clicking on a location, you will first be shown a short introductory video. Next, you can walk around several rooms by clicking on the arrows. Each time, look around carefully and identify all dangerous situations. These can be found behind a number of question marks.
After you have indicated all the risks, you get an overview of the correct workspace with the correct information.
Educational information package
In order to facilitate the integration of the game into the curriculum, an educational information package is accessible for teachers and schools, currently offered in both French and in Dutch, with an English version soon to be included.
STOP principle
One of the most important ideas put forward by the game is the STOP principle. This prevention principle sets out an exact order of protective measures to be taken to minimise dangerous exposure to carcinogens. The different steps to be followed are:
- Substitution: the use of a dangerous substance is avoided by replacing it with a substance that is not or less hazardous to the safety and health of workers;
- Technical measures, introduced to prevent or reduce the release of carcinogenic or other dangerous substances that may pose a risk to the safety and health of workers in the workplace, such as closed systems, extraction systems near the source of the risk, or ventilation;
- Organisational measures, such as providing fixed workstations for handling dangerous substances, limiting the number of workers or working time in which a worker may be exposed, adequate and regular maintenance of the workplace, providing appropriate information and, above all, training;
- Personal protective measures, to be used when exposure cannot be avoided by any other means (examples: respiratory protection, gloves, masks, protective clothing, …).
Everyone, employers as well as employees, must apply the STOP principle. This is how to STOP exposure to carcinogenic substances and thus work-related cancer cases.
