“This agreement [...] will help to improve the long-term working conditions of more than a million workers in the EU, avoiding more than 22,000 cases of occupational disease each year," said Italian EFDD member Laura Agea, the MEP in charge of steering the legislation through Parliament.

In 2017, MEPs set exposure limits on 11 additional carcinogens during the first revision of the 2004 directive to limit harmful substances in the workplace.

On 11 December 2018, MEPs adopted even stricter rules, including exposure limit values for eight additional cancer-causing substances, whether inhaled or handled. These substances included diesel fumes and used engine oil. It will also include skin notations for these substances, which are used to warn against the potential health effects associated with skin penetration.