8
NOVEMBER 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Taking
control
Buyers given
new guidance
to address ‘slim’
insulating glazing
unit concerns
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
• There are 13,500 new
cases of occupational cancer per year
and 8,000 deaths
• 1.2 million people
suffer from work-related illnesses, including
asthma, and noise-induced hearing loss
• 12,000 people die
every year from diseases that are caused by
exposures at work
• There are 40,000 new
cases of work-related skin disease
• 1 in 20 cancers are
due to work-related causes
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.
Occupational hygienists can provide advice
on controlling many health hazards that
can be found in workplaces, including:
• Chemical hazards
from exposures to
dusts, mists, fibres,
gases or vapours
• Biological hazards
from exposures to
bacteria (such as legionella), fungi etc.
• Physical hazards
from exposures to
noise, vibration, heat
stress, cold stress,
non-ionising radiation
(including lasers) or
ionising radiation
• Ergonomic hazards
such as manual handling,
or the use of display
screen equipment
• Psychosocial hazards
such as work stress or
fatigue.
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
5. Advising on what types
of hearing protection
would be suitable for
the noise levels that
have been measured
2. Assessing these exposures by comparison
with the Action Levels
that are set in the Control of Noise at Work
Regulations 2005
6. Provide advice about the
use of regular audiometry – the testing of each
individual’s hearing – and
the benefit of such health
surveillance both to the
employee and employer
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. Offering guidance on
the information that
should be given to
employees who work
in the noisy areas
7. Identifying and ranking
the principal sources
of noise in each of the
Ear Protection Areas
8. Provide advice and
recommendations about
controlling the noise
exposures by means other
than hearing protection
and in particular by
engineering means, in
a cost-effective way.
‘services from external consultants’
As with other forms of personal protective equipment
(PPE), hearing protection should be regarded as an interim measure to protect the employee until such engineering solutions can be devised and implemented.
Large organisations may well employ one or more occupational hygienists on a full-time basis to provide in-house
advice. Where specialist expertise is not available within
their organisation, employers often contract occupational
hygiene support services from external consultants. Those
with professional qualifications in occupational hygiene
are uniquely suited to this task.
BOHS publishes a Directory of Occupational Hygiene Services on an annual basis to enable any
employer to locate an occupational hygi