FEATURE HAZARDOUS AREA EQUIPMENT
Sun safety survey reveals health and safety risks for outdoor workers
awareness of the risks as well as the need for a shift in attitude when it came to protection at work. In reviewing the data, SC Johnson
Professional surmised that the larger the number of outdoor workers in a business, the larger the number of health and safety professionals who believe that the workforce is increasingly unaware of the dangers posed by UV radiation from the sun. This then suggests that much more still needs to be done across organisations to raise awareness of this issue. Seeking to find out what was needed in
D
espite growing awareness of the risk of unprotected UV exposure, Britain
sees 1,700 people diagnosed every year as a direct cause of occupational sun exposure. A study conducted by SC Johnson Professional set out to look into this further, and found that 76% of UK health and safety professionals were unaware of the extent of the dangers, stating that they did not know that 1 death and 5 new cases of skin cancer per week in Britain could be attributed to occupational UV exposure. Along with lack of awareness, these
professionals did not feel equipped to properly train workers, including in the utilities sector, which the survey showed had the highest proportion of employees who regularly worked outdoors. Three- quarters of respondents working in this sector felt they did not have enough information to enable them to deliver UV protection training programmes to their employees. Among the key findings, 1 in 3 health
and safety professionals stated that their organisation did not provide any UV protection to outdoor workers. Despite still leaving a third of the workforce vulnerable, outdoor workers themselves painted a starker picture: 2 in 3 said their organisation did not provide UV protection to them in the 2019 survey. Lack of provision may be due to the
fact that 40% of these professionals claimed that employees provided their own UV protection. This result was despite the Health and Safety at Work
28 JUNE 2020 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Act, which states that every employer has a legal duty to safeguard, as far as is reasonably practical, the health of their employees. According to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines, UV radiation should be considered an occupational hazard for those who work outdoors. Despite this, in their 2019 survey SC Johnson Professional discovered that 87% of non-wearers of sun cream stated that there was no UV protection product made available in their workplace. Of those who did use sun cream however, only 27% were provided with product by their employer. Further to this, when asked why they
felt that a large number of employees did not use UV protection, 45% of health and safety professionals admitted that this was due to a lack of awareness around the dangers of UV exposure. However, it was concerning that 30% of the respondents said that it was due to a general belief that UV protection at work in the UK is unnecessary. Last year, 136 outdoor workers participated in SC Johnson Professional’s survey regarding their UV protection habits during the summer of 2018 (one of the hottest on record). It was found that only 1 in 4 wore protective sun cream whilst at work, citing the effort involved as the main reason they did not protect themselves. In contrast to this, 72% of respondents claimed that they would use protective sun cream whilst on holiday, but only 26% would wear sun cream on cloudy days; demonstrating an
1 in 3 health and safety professionals stated that their organisation did not provide any UV protection to outdoor workers
terms of training, SC Johnson Professional found that health and safety professionals recognised the gap in knowledge yet felt unequipped to address it. 1 in 2 organisations surveyed carried out no training on when and how to use UV protection, and just 37% of them stated that they themselves had had the correct training to equip them to implement UV protection programmes in their organisations. Training emerged a key finding from
the 2020 survey. Of those health and safety professionals with a majority of employees working outdoors, 1 in 3 said that they did not have enough information to brief workers on the dangers of UV exposure and 41% stated that they wanted clearer regulatory requirements to help them with this. 43% of professionals wanted better data and information on the risks posed by UV radiation in the UK. Alan Murray, chief executive officer at
the British Safety Industry Federation, comments: “The research carried out by SC Johnson Professional clearly shows that more awareness and training is needed when it comes to UV protection at work here in the UK – both for health and safety professionals and people that work outside. Employers have a duty of care to provide UV protection to their workforce, and the best way to ensure this is implemented is via health and safety professionals. “Along with skin care provision, other
forms of protective clothing and methods of working, it is crucial that we provide good quality training and information to health and safety professionals, so they are full equipped to train employees and to raise awareness more generally.”
SC Johnson Professional
scjp.com / ELECTRICALENGINEERING
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