NIOSH Finds No Evidence That Cancers among School Employees Resulted from Workplace Exposures

A NIOSH investigation of concerns about cancer diagnoses among employees at an elementary school found no evidence linking workers’ disease to exposures at the workplace, according to a recently published health hazard evaluation (HHE) report. School management requested the evaluation due to employees’ worries about a cell tower located on school property, a nearby business that employees suspected to be a storage facility for hazardous waste, and concerns about chemical exposures from the environment.

School employees communicated their concerns to management in 2022 when two colleagues were diagnosed with cancer and again in 2024 following another worker’s diagnosis and the death of a teacher. Management requested an HHE from NIOSH in June 2025.

Construction on the school building was completed in 2006, but school records prior to 2013 were incomplete. Of the estimated 294 employees who worked at the school during 2013–2025, 11 reported diagnoses of solid cancers, with one individual reporting two separate diagnoses. Because solid cancers typically have a latency of approximately four years, according to the report, NIOSH focused on the seven employees—two percent of the total—whose diagnoses were consistent with this assumption. Given that approximately 40 percent of men and women in the United States will receive a cancer diagnosis, the number of cancers among school employees during the period of concern did not exceed the expected rate, the report explains. The incidence of three breast cancers among school employees was also lower than expected.

The cell tower, which was also completed in 2006, stood approximately 100 feet from the school building. NIOSH reviewed the tower’s inspection report, which indicated that radiofrequency radiation levels were less than five percent of the Federal Communications Commission’s maximum permissible exposure limit.

The nearby business that was a source of some employees’ concerns was owned by a company that removed and disposed of hazardous waste but used the facility only to store equipment and repair vehicles. NIOSH found no indication that hazardous waste was ever handled or stored on the site.

The agency’s review of records from environmental assessments and air sampling conducted at the school found no exposures of concern. Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in soil samples near sidewalks and of lead and arsenic elsewhere on school grounds were above state target levels, but employees did not spend enough time in these areas for substantial exposures to be likely. Groundskeepers at the school used herbicides containing glyphosate, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies as probably carcinogenic to humans, but the report states that these products should not present increased risk of exposure to school employees if used according to manufacturers’ instructions.

While NIOSH found no evidence of overexposure to a cancer-causing hazard at the school, it recommends the creation of an occupational health and safety committee containing representatives from both workers and management. The agency also encourages employees to learn more about ways to reduce risk factors for cancer.

For more information, refer to the report (PDF) on the NIOSH website.