FEATURE HEALTH & SAFETY
TAKING CONTROL OF occupational illnesses
There is a growing problem with workplace illnesses. David O’Malley, immediate past president of BOHS explains how they can be controlled by occupational hygienists
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. 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.
Occupational hygienists can provide advice on controlling workplace health hazards including exposure to dusts and mists
INTERIM MEASURE 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
O
ccupational 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 noise-induced 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 caused by exposures at work; 1 in 20 cancers are work-related. 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 all 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 health
14 SEPTEMBER 2014 | FACTORY EQUIPMENT
hazards in a workplace and advise the employer how best to control employee exposures in a cost-effective way.
EAR PROTECTION One example of an occupational hazard is noise which is particularly relevant to anyone working with machinery. 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 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 noisy areas. 5. Advising on what types of hearing protection would be suitable for the noise levels that have been measured.
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. In addition to noise occupational
hygienists can provide advice on controlling further health hazards that can be found in workplaces including: Chemical: from exposures to dusts, mists, fibres, gases or vapours Physical: from exposures to noise, vibration, heat/cold stress, non-ionising radiation (including lasers) or ionising radiation. Biological: from exposure to bacteria (such as legionella), fungi etc. Ergonomic: including manual handling or the use of display screen equipment Psychosocial: work stress or fatigue. BOHS publishes an annual Directory of
Occupational Hygiene Services to enable employers to locate an occupational hygiene consultant suitable for them.
BOHS T: 01332 298101
www.bohs.org/OHServices-directory Enter 308
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