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The UK's workplace dust standard should be tightened considerably to protect workers from serious diseases, a new academic paper has concluded.
This echoes a call from the TUC made in 2011.
The paper published in the July 2013 edition of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene warns that 'exposure to low-toxicity dusts, which have previously been viewed as 'nuisance dusts', can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] or other non-malignant respiratory disease.'
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that at least 4,000 workers die each year of work-related COPD, many the result of exposures to dust at work.
But, as with most HSE estimates, this may well be the lower fogures of what is actually occurring in UK places.
The authors of the new paper, from universities in England, Scotland and the USA, note that the current UK dust standard has remained unchanged for over 30 years, warning 'there is good evidence from epidemiology and toxicology studies that current dust exposures may still present a risk to workers and that for some of those who are affected, there are devastating health consequences.'
They back a call by the TUC and UK unions for the occupational exposure limits (OELs) to be reduced to a quarter of the current levels, a recommendation also supported by the Institution of Occupational Medicine and the German standards board.
The authors of the research report say in their document:
'It would be prudent for health and safety professionals to take this information into account while giving advice. We urge regulators in Britain and elsewhere to move to develop new, safe OELs for poorly soluble low-toxicity dusts.'
Source: TUC Risks
You can download the report and other information regarding exposure to dust direct from the E-Library Database
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