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Additional safety warning for construction dust
The updated Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1st October
2012 now also targets to reduce the risks associated with silica, wood and gypsum
dusts.
Construction workers are one of the at-risk groups within this because of the dust
that they breathe: silica dust is not just a nuisance; it is a real risk to your lungs!
Silica is a natural mineral present in large amounts in things like sand, sandstone
and granite. It is also commonly found in many construction materials such
as concrete and mortar. The silica is broken into very fine dust (also known as
Respirable Crystalline Silica or RCS) during many common tasks such as cutting,
drilling and grinding Breathing in very fine particles of crystalline silica can lead to
the development of:
Lung cancer
Silicosis
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD))
And breathing in fine particles of wood dust can lead to the development of Asthma
The risk of lung disease is linked to people who regularly breathe construction dust
over a period of time, not on the odd occasion.
To protect the lung, the COSHH Regulations sets a limit on the amount of these
dusts that you can breathe (called a Workplace Exposure Limit or WEL) when
averaged over a normal working day. These limits are not a large amount of dust:
when compared to a penny it is tiny – like a small pinch of salt:
This limit is the legal maximum; the most you can breathe after the right controls
have been used.
How to reduce the amount of dust?
1. Reduce the amount of cutting by using the best sizes of building products.
2. Use a less powerful tool e.g. a block cutter instead of angle grinder.
3. Using a different method of work altogether – e.g. using a nail gun to direct fasten
cable trays instead of drilling holes first.
Please always work with approved safety equipment, such as those dust masks
that specially designed to filter out microscopic particles and use the dust extraction
facility at all time.
For more information please see the HSE website:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction or http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cis69.pdf
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