Yesterday, BOHS with its partners, launched the second phase of the breathe freely initiative – #breathefreely in manufacturing, at the EEF headquarters in central London. The campaign will initially be focusing on welding – raising awareness of the risks from respiratory disease and options available to prevent and control welding fume and gases. Welding isContinue reading “#breathefreely in Manufacturing”
Category Archives: Occupational hygiene
Welding–The Risks
Welding is one of the most common activities carried out in industry. HSE estimate that there are around 190,000 welders in UK. However, this is likely to be an underestimate of the total number of workers who carry out welding as there is likely to be a large number who do a small amount ofContinue reading “Welding–The Risks”
Lung Disease and Work
The Lane Lecture is an annual event hosted by the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Manchester. Named in honour of Ronald Lane, the first ever Professor of Occupational Health at the University. This year the lecture was delivered by Professor David Fishwick, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Director of the CentreContinue reading “Lung Disease and Work”
Health in Construction
A couple of weeks ago I travelled down to Birmngham to give a talk on behalf of the BOHS Breathe Freely initiative at the Health and Wellbeing event at the NEC. The Title of the talk was Managing Health in Construction – What Good Looks Like. An annotated version of the slides I used duringContinue reading “Health in Construction”
Silica exposure in the construction industry
One of the most important health risks encountered by construction workers is exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust. Crystalline silica, mainly in the form of quartz, is the main component of most rocks, sands and clays. In the construction industry it can be found in stone, concrete, aggregates, mortars and other materials. Respirable particles (smallerContinue reading “Silica exposure in the construction industry”
IOHA 2015
A couple of weeks ago I was in London attending the 10th International Scientific Conference of the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) organised by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS). The conference was held in lieu of he usual annual BOHS Conference that normally takes place that time of the year. It was a stepContinue reading “IOHA 2015”
Dark Satanic Mills
Many people when they get to a certain age start to wonder where they came from. That was certainly true for me so a few years ago I started to research my family tree. Although there were a few surprises my research confirmed that I my family were ordinary workers. I wanted to find outContinue reading “Dark Satanic Mills”
Vital statistics
On 2 July the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released their provisional data on the numbers of workers killed in accidents at work. They revealed that 133 workers were fatally injured in the period between April 2013 and March 2014 compared with 150 in the previous year. This continues the trend in a reduction inContinue reading “Vital statistics”
Silica exposure in construction
On Monday this week the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced that they were launching a two-week inspection blitz focusing on poor conditions likely to lead to ill health on construction sites, a sector in which occupational hygiene controls have, for too long, been overlooked. Last year there were 39 fatal injuries to workers inContinue reading “Silica exposure in construction”
The future of occupational hygiene?
Last week I was over at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exhibition (AIHce) in San Antonio, Texas. It was my first time at this event and it was a great experience. This year is the 75th anniversary of the American Industrial Hygiene Association so this was an opportunity to look back on what theContinue reading “The future of occupational hygiene?”
Recognition, Evaluation, Control 