Each year there are around 13,000 occupational deaths linked to respiratory disease
Every day on-site, construction workers come across multiple hazards. In recent years the death rate linked to respiratory disease has increased drastically, a large proportion of these are not linked to asbestos, as was the case a few years ago.
This blog will highlight some of the key facts our industry should be aware of and how you can help make your site safer for your employees.
It is estimated that 40% of all new cancer registrations/deaths are linked to construction workers, but cancer substancesss only health risk to workers breathing in the dust on-site it can also cause, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Silicosis and Asthma.
What is Asbestosis
Asbestos is still one of the biggest killers in construction, with an estimate of 5000 deaths a year, even though it has been banned since 1999. Excessive exposure to asbestos causes Asbestosis, a long-term inflammation and scarring of the lungs, this can lead to lung cancer including Mesothelioma. Symptoms may not start to show for 20-30 years after initially being exposed, this can range from consistent cough, wheezing and shortness of breath.
Mesothelioma is a malignant tumour and forms in the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. There are around 2400 deaths a year with nearly half being over the age of 75. The death rates in the under 70s have now started to decrease due to asbestos now being an illegal substance. However asbestos is still the second highest cause of cancer behind smoking.
What is Silicosis?
After Asbestos, Silicosis is the most common occupational lung disease with over 900 new cases diagnosed each year and around 500 construction works a year dying, that’s 10 death per week. What’s most shocking is all of the deaths could be preventable if the right procedures were in place on-site.
Silicosis is a form of Pneumoconiosis and is a progressive, degenerative respiratory condition that causes crippling health conditions and possibly death. Silicosis is caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust and can take anything between 10-20 years for you to show any symptoms, like asbestosis these could be a persistent cough, shortness of breath and weakness/fatigue.
Silica is a natural substance found in stone, rock and sand and is a major component in construction materials. Untouched within materials silica is harmless, it is only when disturbed it becomes toxic.
By law, construction workers are only allowed to be exposed to 0.1mg/m3 of silica. This visual example shows the daily limit compared to a 1p.
What is COPD
COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is an obstruction formed in your airways causing severe disability and possibly death. COPD is not fully reversible and progresses years after exposure.
Construction works have the highest diagnosed levels of COPD compared to any other industry. This is because COPD is caused by excessive exposure to harmful substances including fumes, gases and dust. Symptoms can include chronic cough, sputum production and shortness of breath.
What is Occupational Asthma
Occupational Asthma is an allergic reaction some workers can experience when exposed to substances on-site, for example, wood dust. If workers are exposed to harmful substances called ‘respiratory sensitisers’ regularly it can cause them to go into hypersensitive states that could lead to asthma attacks. Asthma attacks are when the airways of the lungs begin to contract, obstructing the airflow.
Some of the common symptoms of asthma include severe shortness of breath, wheezing and tightening of the chest. When these symptoms are most severe it makes carrying out some simple task like walking down the stairs or carrying your shopping impossible, because of this some people are not able to work again.
IOSH Survey
In recent years IOSH (The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) has completed a survey within the construction industry to access how aware we are about the risk of inhaling dust particles and the effect on construction workers health. They sent the questionnaire out to over 1000 construction workers, from directors to apprentices and received 618 responses.
Out of these responses, 14.4% were not aware of the health problems caused by inhaling dust, a majority just thought it was a nuisance. The site workers didn’t understand the immediate risk of inhaling dust regularly with 42.2%, just under half, saying they appreciated the health risk but not the significances of this.
One of the things that stood out was that only 12.5% of the site workers who responded found the control of dust a priority, compared to the 44.6% that thought the industry gave little to no priority to this. The industry as a whole is more worried about other safety issues, such as falling from a height, over the safety issues leading to ill health from dust.
Other key finds within this survey was a lack of priority given to the issue by companies, lack of awareness among workers about the risks and preventable measures including face-fit testing and poor compliance with arrangements that were in place.
How to Control Dust on Site
There are many ways of controlling dust on-site to minimise the workers’ exposure this includes, on-tool extraction, local exhaust ventilation, watering the materials down and wearing correct RPE.
Your main line of defence should be exhaust ventilation and watering the materials down, as these can offer a reduction of dust by up to 99%. With this said IOSH found within their survey that two-fifths of the respondents said some means of dust extractions are rarely available, however, nearly half said that a majority of the time there were means to suppress dust with water.
When the responders were asked about RPE 53.4% were relying on this as their only means to control exposure and 20.3% said it rarely or never met the specification (see HSE Guide HSG53 link below). There was a high percentage who said it did meet specifications, however, when asked if the workers were regularly face-fit tested over half (57.1%) said rarely or never. This could be for many reasons but the most common feedback was they were unable to fit test due to the workers not being clean shaven.
Face-fit Testing
Before wearing any tight-fitting mask, including disposable, half mask and full face, you must be face-fit tested by a trained fitter. There are two types of tests, Qualitative (taste test) and Quantitative (machine-based). For this to be correctly done it is very important to be clean-shaven and have no makeup on. As you can see in the image to the right the size of a hair micron is 10X the size of a Silica particle and will make your mask redundant. This seems to be one of the biggest problem areas on-site, which Urban has experienced first hand with temporary staff turning up with full facial beards and unable to be fitted. This is why it is so important to have other measures in place and RPE being a final measure.
Once you have been face-fitted you receive a certificate to tell you what mask has been fitted and when to be retested, it’s recommended every two years unless you change your RPE or your face dimensions changes due to surgery, major dental work, mass weight gain/loss or moles/ scarring.
If you want more information check out HSE new protocol INDG 479. (Link below)
Current Regulations
The use of RPE is a legal requirement under the Health and Safety Act 1974.
It is also regulated under the COSHH Regulation 2002, in addition to this RPE may be needed to satisfy the requirements in the following legislations.
- COSHH- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health
- CLAW- Control of Lead at Work regulations
- CAR 2012- Control of Asbestos at Work regulation
- IRR- The Ionising Radiations Regulations
- CSR- The Confined Spaces Regulations.
Each one of these regulations has different requirements regarding RPE so if these relate to the work you are carrying out you must comply with any specifics mentioned.
All of these regulations are supported by Approved Codes of Practise (ACOPS) and if you want to read more about the individual regulations check it out on the HSE website. (see link below)
Conclusion
We hope reading this blog has highlighted the importance of acting now against dust on site as it has certainly been a priority to Urban Shopfitters Ltd over the past 12 months with multiple members of the team completing training via the National Association of Shopfitters (NAS) including Dust Management in Construction in partnership with CITB and Qualitative face-fit tester qualification with WeFit RPE.
It’s time for the industry to realise health issues are as important as safety issues. There are over 23.5 million working days lost in the UK due to work-related ill health each year. Small changes on-site could change all of this and prevent serious illness and even death.
Further information
Please find further information below