New drive to tackle occupational disease

CEL-712
Microdust Pro
From Casella

The Health and Safety Executive has launched a new drive to tackle the issue of occupational disease in the UK - something that could be aided by personal protection equipment.

Personal protection equipment (PPE) is aimed at safeguarding workers against occupational hazards, helping to cut the rate of injury and illness among employees across the country.

However, approximately 450,000 new cases of occupational-related ill-health are reported each year in the UK - a figure the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is keen to see reduced.

About 12,000 or more premature deaths are caused each year through past exposure to harmful substances - tragedies which could have been avoided had the correct dust monitoring equipment or PPE been in place at the time.

Dust monitoring equipment such as Casella's CEL-712 Microdust Pro can be purchased from Frontline Safety and would be an instrument used for occupational dust measurement.  Respiratory protection such as the Drager X-plore 6300 can also be purchased from the website and could help protect against diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The HSE previously launched a new drive to combat occupational disease and hosted an event on the 14th of March in which delegates discussed effective ways to reduce the death toll.

Source: RoSPA

Speaking before the Tackling Occupational Disease - Developing New Approaches meeting, HSE chair Judith Hackitt said that there is a need to change our views on occupational disease management.

"We often focus on what has been achieved in reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries in Britain's workplaces year on year, but every year these figures are dwarfed by the number of people who die prematurely from occupational disease as a result of exposure to harmful substances and conditions at work," she explained.

"The scale of the challenge and some of the complicating factors can make the challenge of addressing occupational disease seem daunting, but there are some examples of activities that have made a real difference."

Ms Hackitt cited improved equipment, new guidance and a change of working methods as just some of the tools to help fight the risk of death and illness from work-related incidents.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) World Day for Health and Safety at Work will be celebrated this Sunday, (28th of April).  Current and emerging trends will be discussed and work-related injuries, disease and fatalities will be brought to attention in order to tackle the rising number of such incidents.

More information on this event can be found through the following links.

https://www.ilo.org/safework/events/safeday/lang--en/index.htm
https://www.shponline.co.uk/news-content/full/workers-memorial-day-ilo-urges-action-on-health?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Written by Chris Malone