RESPIRATORY HEALTH & AIR QUALITY
MANAGING AIRBORNE HAZARDS
Tim Turney, Global Marketing Manager at Casella, explains how implementing a monitoring control regime can protect employees from the consequences of exposure to airborne hazards.
England has one of the highest rates of respiratory ill health and death throughout Europe according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Many ailments such as cancer and cardiovascular disease have seen an improvement in health outcomes over the last 10 years, however respiratory disease has not. Statistically, over the period of 2013-2019, one person died from respiratory diseases every eight minutes.
Respiratory diseases are preventable but, often, once the effects take hold these illnesses can be incurable and deadly. Effective implementation of a meticulous and meaningful control regime can prevent these diseases and curtail the UK’s respiratory ill health rate.
According to the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974, it is the duty of the employer to identify and control health and safety risks within the workplace. Further legislation, such as the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, dictate the additional duties of the employer whose employees work in higher risk environments, typically found on construction sites, manufacturing plants and other industrial settings.
The hierarchy of control is a universally accepted process of controlling risks in the workplace in the UK. Setting out the most to the least effective method of control, the hierarchy begins with eliminating the substance from the workplaces, which can eliminate the risk from that particular hazard.
Monitoring hazards the employee is exposed to is the best way to know the type and level of risk present in a workplace. Routine risk assessments should be conducted of physical and chemical agents, backed by objective measurements of hazards and used to inform recommendations for applying the hierarchy of control.
Now, risk assessments are easier to conduct than ever before with developments in instrumentation used for personal air sampling and real-time solutions.
Personal air sampling pumps are typically used for compliance purposes in accordance with UK methods which are recognised on a global basis. The bodily worn pump itself should comply with the latest version of the ISO standard and be calibrated for flow rate both before and after use, because the hazard concentration is directly proportional to the flow rate which subsequently gets compared with the statutory limit values such as those published by the HSE. Knowledge method to use to sample the air (Methods for the Determination of Hazardous Substances, or MDHS) is important to determine the media used to sample the air onto, as well as items such as the flow rate and sample volume.
Real-time air quality monitoring solutions provide instantaneous results, allowing for immediate response to current exposure levels. A spike in concentration can be acted upon instantly to mitigate the risk to employees. Real-time instruments could be a particulate
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monitor for dust, a Photo -Ionisation Detector (PID) for vapours or a gas detector for toxic cases. Practically, this is cost-effective and can identify if additional personal monitoring is required and ensure control measures are working correctly.
Besides these control measures, education and training of employees to ensure they understand the risks they can encounter in the workplace is best practice. In summary, a good approach to controlling workplace hazards is as follows:
• Identify the hazards in the workplace.
• Conduct a risk assessment. • Apply the hierarchy of control. • Monitor the environment and adapt your control measures accordingly.
• Educate and train employees on the dangers they may face at work and the use of any control measures, including PPE.
Widespread adoption of this blueprint will protect employees throughout the UK from respiratory illness and prevent a rise in the rate of chronic health problems. Businesses will also mitigate the risk of failure to follow regulations and guidance which would otherwise result in punitive measures and damaged reputation.
www.casellasolutions.com
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