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A systems-based framework for assessing microplastics as an emerging occupational safety and health risk
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This review paper argues that workers like waste pickers, street sweepers, and construction laborers, who handle plastic waste and debris daily, likely face much higher microplastic exposure than the general public, yet almost no research or workplace safety rules currently protect them. The authors say this is a major blind spot: while scientists have studied microplastics in our food and water, we know far less about the health risks to people breathing in and touching plastic particles on the job every day, especially informal workers who lack protective equipment. The paper calls for treating microplastics as a recognized workplace hazard, similar to dust or chemical exposures, so these vulnerable work
Urban environments are emerging hotspots of microplastic generation and accumulation, with sources including textiles, road dust, traffic-related emissions, construction debris, and waste mismanagement. While existing research has largely focused on environmental contamination and food-chain transfer, the occupational safety and health (OSH) implications of microplastic exposure remain insufficiently examined. Workers across informal and semi-formal urban sectors, including waste pickers, street sweepers, sanitation workers, construction labourers, logistics handlers, and agricultural workers, experience disproportionate exposure through inhalation, dermal contact, and incidental ingestion during routine work activities. Informal workers, women, and children are particularly vulnerable due to labour-intensive practices, limited mechanisation, inadequate access to personal protective equipment, and the absence of occupational health surveillance. This review addresses the missing OSH perspective within the global microplastics discourse by examining occupational exposure pathways, including inhalation of airborne fibres and dust, dermal contact with contaminated surfaces, and ingestion of contaminated food and water at worksites, alongside potential health outcomes such as respiratory impairment, dermal irritation, systemic inflammation, and longer-term toxicological risks. Drawing on emerging evidence and illustrative case studies, the analysis highlights critical knowledge gaps in exposure quantification, epidemiological evidence, dose–response relationships, and co-exposures with other occupational hazards such as silica, dyes, and pesticides. By bridging occupational health, environmental science, and urban sustainability, this review advances a framework that positions workers as the first and most vulnerable receptors of urban microplastics. It calls for regulatory recognition of microplastics as an occupational hazard, the development of exposure monitoring and threshold guidelines, and inclusive policy approaches to protect worker safety while supporting sustainable and equitable urban systems. Graphical Abstract
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Researchers reviewed how humans are exposed to microplastics through eating, breathing, and skin contact, finding that lab studies link microplastic exposure to oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA damage, though the long-term health effects in humans remain poorly understood and need further study.
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This paper raises early concerns about microplastics as an emerging environmental contaminant of potential concern, though limited abstract detail is available. The framing of microplastics as a newly recognized pollutant reflects the field's early recognition of the need for systematic study of plastic particle contamination.
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