Tag Archives: Dust

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”

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”

Dust Exposure

There are many common industrial processes which cause workers to be exposed to a wide range of toxic and harmful dusts. Although official statistics are hard to come by, John Cherrie of the Institute of Occupational Medicine has estimated that in Great Britain almost 10 million workers are exposed to dust at work. Handling ofContinue reading “Dust Exposure”

Low Toxicity Dusts–Part 2

In my last post I discussed the evidence that suggests that the “trigger values” of 10 and 4 mg/m3 that are widely used as such by many occupational hygienists for “low toxicity dusts” where an official Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) hasn’t been set, are probably too high to prevent ill health in workers. Despite consideringContinue reading “Low Toxicity Dusts–Part 2”

Low Toxicity Dusts – Part 1

(Image source: BOHS) Regulation 2 of COSHH1 states that any dust when present in the workplace at a concentration in air equal to or greater than 10 mg/m3 of inhalable dust or 4 mg/m3 of respirable (as a time-weighted average over an 8-hour period) is considered to be a substance hazardous to health. If theContinue reading “Low Toxicity Dusts – Part 1”