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One means of preventing exposure is substitution with a safer chemical. There are several UK and European examples of this approach, in both individual workplaces, and across whole industries, such as the SUBSPRINT project. SUBSPRINT was a European project set up in 1991 to extend Danish printers' success in substituting organic solvents with vegetable oil cleaning agents (VCAs) for wash-up in offset printing presses. However, SUBSPRINT was more successful in certain parts of Europe, with smaller nations like Iceland getting over half (55%) of their presses running with VCAs, but larger countries like the UK only achieving a 2-10% switch. SUBSPRINT's final report says, "It is debatable how much real and lasting substitution there will ever be in the UK without strong environmental and health and safety laws plus rigorous enforcement that affects even small and medium sized printing companies" (SUBSPRINT Final report, Kooperationsstelle Hamburg, 1997). More could have been achieved, says Bud Hudspith of the GPMU, if the project had been better funded in the UK (as happened in Germany), if suppliers had been more supportive, and if the HSE had "got on board, instead of sitting on the fence."

As well as worker health and safety, SUBSPRINT was driven by environmental concerns. Printing is a major user of organic solvents. Many of these are volatile, and as much as 290 million litres of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted from EU printers each year, making it the second biggest industrial source of VOCs in Europe. VOCs cause environmental problems because they damage the ozone layer. Although the use of VCAs in printing is an example of substitution that benefits worker health and safety as well as the environment, others do not.

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