Health & Safety


Never underestimate the danger of lead at work


DURING metal recycling activities, employees may be exposed to lead dust, fume and vapour - while working with lead can result in negative eff ects on a worker’s health.


When lead and items containing lead are processed or recovered from scrap waste, they can create lead dust, fumes or vapour. The body absorbs lead by:


• Breathing in lead dust, fume or vapour


• Swallowing any lead, for example if workers eat, drink, smoke, or bite their nails without washing


Lead is not absorbed through the skin – except in the form of lead alkyls (an additive to petrol) and lead naphthenate.


Any lead absorbed at work will circulate in the person’s blood. The body gets rid of a small amount of lead each time a person goes to the toilet, but some will stay in the body - stored mainly in bones where it can remain for many years without causing illness.


Category (a) General employees


(b) Women of child-bearing age (c) Young people under 18


If the level of lead in the body gets too high, it can cause:


• Headaches; tiredness; irritability; constipation; nausea; stomach pains; anaemia; and loss of weight


• Continued uncontrolled exposure could cause more serious symptoms such as kidney damage; nerve and brain damage; and infertility


These symptoms can also have causes other than lead exposure, so they do not necessarily mean that an individual has lead poisoning.


An unborn child is at particular risk from exposure to lead, especially in the early weeks before a pregnancy becomes known. Women of child-bearing age should make sure they follow good work practices, and a high standard of personal hygiene.


If employees could be exposed to lead, lead compounds, dust, fume or vapour at work the employer must:


• Assess the risk to health to decide whether or not exposure is ‘significant’ (the law defines this), and what precautions are needed to protect workers health


• Put in place systems of work and other controls, such as fume and dust extraction, to prevent or control exposure to lead, and keep equipment in efficient working order


• Provide washing and changing facilities, and places free from lead contamination where workers can eat and drink


Action level 50 µg/dl 25 µg/dl 40 µg/dl


Suspension level 60 µg/dl 30 µg/dl 50 µg/dl


• Tell employees about the health risks from working with lead and the precautions to be taken


• Train workers to use any control measures and protective equipment correctly


Employers should tell employees if their exposure to lead is ‘signifi cant’. If it is, the employer will also have to:


• Provide protective clothing


• Make arrangements for laundering contaminated clothing


• Measure level of lead in the air workers are exposed to, and tell employees


 COMPASS’s Deborah Williams


• If exposure to lead cannot be kept below a certain level – known as the occupational exposure limit – the employer must also issue you with respiratory protective equipment


• Measure the level of lead in workers bodies, and inform them of the results


The table (Left) shows the current action and suspension levels. There are lower action and suspension levels for women of child-bearing age and for young people under 18 as in our table.


If a woman is pregnant, the lead in her blood can pass into the blood of the baby she is carrying, which could aff ect its development.


If you are pregnant, it is important to keep the amount of lead in your blood as low as possible. The law also gives greater protection to young people under 18, because they generally have less experience working with a substance as hazardous as lead.


For advice or to arrange blood monitoring, please call Compass on 01257 692606 or: dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk


Deborah Williams CMIOSH RMaPS is Principal Safety Consultant at Compass Ltd.


Deborah specialises in assisting private sector organisations within the construction, waste management and extractive industries.


You can contact her on - 01257 482256 or via email: dwilliams@compass-ms.co.uk 26 SHM May, 2018 www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk


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