Resources on Industrial Process Health Hazards

Regulatory Agencies UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Irish Health and Safety Authority (HSA) Safe Work Australia USA Occuaptional Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) USA NIOSH – Industries and Occupations International Labour Organisation ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety Campaigns BOHS – Breathefreely Breathefreely Australia Industry Organisations TWI (Welding) ECFIA (Ceramic fibre) CONCAWE (Petroleum

#breathefreely in Manufacturing

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 is

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 of

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 Centre

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 during

Toxic Art – Alexander Calder’s Mercury Fountain

As an occupational hygienist, when visiting the Alexander Calder exhibition at Tate Modern last week I couldn’t help but stop and take notice of the pictures and description of one of the works created by this American artist well known for his mobiles and other “kinetic sculptures” . A mercury fountain. While I was looking

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 (smaller

Heatwave in India – implications for workers

It’s rare that the concerns of ordinary workers makes the news in Europe, but over the past few days there have been reports in the British press about fatalities being caused by a severe heatwave in India. (Picture Source; http://www.commondreams) According to the Guardian over 2,200 people have died Andhra Pradesh has been hit the

Who are Workplace Health Without Borders?

Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) is an organisation of occupational hygienists and other occupational health professionals who want to do something about the estimated 2 million people who die every year due to ill health caused by their work, and the countless millions of workers who suffer from work related illnesses. WHWB was established in Canada in

Breathe Freely

On the evening of 28 April, Workers’ Memorial Day, the Breathe Freely initiative, which aims to raise awareness of respiratory disease in the construction industry, was launched at a reception at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall in London. The room was packed with 140 people, mainly representatives from the Construction industry. Breathe Freely is a collaborative