Clearview National December 2014 - Issue 157 | Page 77

INSTALLERSUPPORT

Taking Control
David O’Malley, Immediate Past President
of BOHS, the society for worker health
protection, outlines the growing problem
of workplace illnesses and how these can
be controlled by occupational hygienists.
»»Occupational
diseases currently place a huge
burden on UK business. HSE
estimates that:
• The cost of these illnesses
to the UK economy is £13
billion per year.
• 1.2 million people suffer
from work-related illnesses,
including asthma, and noiseinduced hearing loss.
• There are 40,000 new
cases of work-related skin
disease.
• There are 13,500 new cases
of occupational cancer per
year and 8,000 deaths.
• 12,000 people die every year
from diseases that are caused
by exposures at work.
• 1 in 20 cancers are due to
work-related causes.

‘controlling
workplace exposures’
Occupational hygiene is about
preventing these deaths and
illnesses by adequately controlling
the workplace exposures that
cause them. The real tragedy of
the above statistics is that every
one of those illnesses and deaths
could and should have been
prevented by the application
of good occupational hygiene
practice in every workplace.
A professionally qualified
occupational hygienist can
evaluate many different health
hazards in a workplace, and then
advise the employer how best to
control employee exposures in a
cost-effective way.

One example of an
occupational hazard is noise,
which is particularly relevant
to anyone working with
machinery. In just eight steps, an
occupational hygienist can help
reduce the hazard by:
1. Measuring or estimating
the personal noise exposures for
each job category throughout the
workplace
2. Assessing these exposures
by comparison with the Action
Levels that are set in the Control
of Noise at Work Regulations
2005
3. Clearly defining which
areas of the workplace should
be demarcated as Ear Protection
Areas within which the use of
suitable hearing protection should
be mandatory
4. Of