The exposome concept was conceived in 2005 as a way to represent non-genetic drivers of health and disease. The exposome encompasses all non-genetic risk factors experienced during a person’s life (the external exposome) and its relation to biological responses inside the human body (the internal exposome). This concept was born out of the recognition that – while there was a revolution in our understanding on the genetic drivers of disease – our understanding on environmental drivers was much more limited. About 70–80% of the disease burden could probably be explained by the exposome.

Fifteen years after the exposome concept was introduced, several advances have been made in the quantification of the exposome by using combinations of different technologies (sensors, bioassays), large exposure and health datasets, and advanced statistical methods. These advances enable moving away from the ‘one exposure-one disease’ approach.

Although occupational risk factors are known to have an important impact on non-communicable diseases, the application of the exposome approach to occupational health has been limited. This is surprising as i) our working life covers a significant proportion of our total lifespan; ii) occupational exposures occur often in complex settings; iii) working-life encompasses important vulnerable life stages including the reproductive period; and iv) occupational exposures are closely related to lifestyle/behaviour (e.g. diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption) and socioeconomic status.

Given the varying exposures and interrelations with other factors across the life course a (holistic) network approach is needed to fully understand the impact of the working life exposome on health. The exposome approach and associated tools start to allow building a (partial) picture of the occupational exposome, which may lead to new insights on how the occupational exposome affects health and provide new leads for prevention.