Industry partnership emphasises dangers of working with dust

The Construction Dust Partnership aims to raise awareness about lung diseases related to hazardous workplace dust and to promote good practice to prevent these diseases, particularly for those undertaking high risk tasks.

It is doing this through identifying and developing partner-led initiatives such as producing information resources and advancing processes to reduce dust exposure.

 

 The CDP members have collectively agreed to:

• Target hazardous construction dusts that give rise to the greatest risk of lung disease


• Improve the industry’s awareness of the risks of developing lung disease due to dust inhalation


• Identify construction tasks that have the greatest risk of workers developing illness


• Work together to agree and promote proportionate controls to minimise the risks.

 

Members and supporters of the initiative include The Health & Safety Executive which is responsible for promoting action among the group. “The HSE aims to act as a catalyst to facilitate action through partnership working and a collective ambition to reduce the burden of occupational cancer and respiratory disease,” explains Kären Clayton, HSE director of long latency health risks division.

 

“By putting a focus on encouraging others to take action, we are starting to see some real innovative changes regarding protecting workers from construction dust.”

 

Other members and supporters include: The Construction Industry Council, Safety Groups UK, IOSH, The UK Contractors Association, Arco, Hilti, Jewson and Screwfix.    

 

 

 Construction dust includes silica, wood and other dusts (e.g. gypsum from plasterboard). The effect of inhaling these highly hazardous particles can result in severe and irreversible respiratory illnesses such as occupational asthma, lung cancer silicosis and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Builders and tradesmen carrying out jobs including cutting paving slabs or roof tiles, wall chasing, grinding, sanding and sweeping are all at risk if control measures are not in place and the correct protection is not worn.

 

Currently, over 500 construction workers are believed to die each year as a result of exposure to silica dust alone. However, the long latency of diseases associated with construction dust exposure means that managing and controlling this risk is often misunderstood or overlooked until it is too late. Heather Bryant, HSE Chief Inspector of Construction, comments: “The construction sector has made good progress in reducing the number of people killed and injured by its activities. Just as importantly, we need to tackle where workers are unnecessarily being exposed to serious health risks, such as silica dust, which can have fatal or debilitating consequences.”

 

www.citb.co.uk/cdp