Controlling Exposures to prevent occupational lung disease in the construction industry.
Join us and be part of the solution
Partners
Background
It’s no secret that construction workers are at high risk of contracting lung disease from the work
that they do. In 2015, approximately 3,500 will die from occupational cancer caused by past
exposure to asbestos, another 500 will die from exposure to silica dust and in addition, 5,500 new
cases of occupational cancer will be reported. Furthermore, today alone, an unknown but significant
number will breathe in the hazardous substances that will one day debilitate or kill them.
What is less well known is that there’s a solution: most of these industrial diseases can be prevented
– by recognising the real hazards, evaluating the risks of being exposed to them, and then effectively
controlling those exposures (otherwise known as good occupational hygiene practice).
BOHS is now leading on an initiative which aims to reduce the incidence of occupational lung disease
in the construction sector.
Common hazards include:
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diesel exhaust fumes
silica dust
wood and other dusts
asbestos
welding fumes
legionella and other biological agents
solvents
isocyanates, epoxy and other resin vapours and mists
All of the above substances are known to cause lung diseases which can be serious, debilitating,
irreversible, life-limiting and in some cases fatal. The diseases caused by the above hazards include
lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis (such as asbestosis and silicosis), asthma, pulmonary oedema,
pneumonia, and chronic bronchitis and emphysema (COPD).
Key Deliverables
Breathe Freely is about providing the information, resources and signposting to the advice and
expertise to help employers, as follows:
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To ensure managers know what “good” looks like and what standards need to be met, you can
sign up to our Health in Industry (HI) Standard. Developed specifically for the construction
industry, this sets out good practice for managing health risks.
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To help spread best practice we have developed a series of data sheets. We have 20 fact sheets
each highlighting the main hazards, highest risks and preferred control options for all the key
construction trades. We’ve put occupational hygiene into a construction site context so it’s clear
where and how an occupational hygienist can help. And we have real on-site case studies
showing actual situations and solutions.
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For practical help, there will be a toolkit for managers, which covers common risks, an audit
checklist, performance indicators and a toolbox talk. (launching November 2015)
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For anyone who still needs convincing, we have evidence that good occupational hygiene is good
for business and the right thing to do: our Good Business Case sets it all out clearly.
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To bring it all together is our web-based information hub, www.breathefreely.org.uk, a centre of
excellence on exposure control. All the campaign materials will be available on this website, and
new ones will keep being added. Links take you to more detailed guidance and regulations and
other sources of relevant information.
All of this information is available on the website www.breathefreely.org.uk.
How can you get involved?
1. Adopt the HI Standard
Adopting this standard will help you introduce, manage and improve your worker health protection
programmes, ensuring that the health risks are properly recognised, evaluated and controlled.
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Adopt the 6-point framework set out in this standard within your organisation;
Share this with your colleagues, managers and workers by printing and displaying the
standard in a prominent place – add your organisation name and sign it first! Tell them
about this in staff meetings/briefings;
Tell others you are adopting the standard (contractors, sub-contractors, supply chain) and
encourage them to sign up;
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Tell us about work you are doing in adopting the standard which we can create case studies
from and share with others – email sharon.brunt@bohs.org.
2. Become an official campaign supporter
 If you would forward a statement of support and your company logo to
sharon.brunt@bohs.org and we will add these to the growing list of supporters at
http://www.breathefreely.org.uk/partners---supporters.html
 We would then also appreciate your support in spreading the word about this campaign, eg.
by adding a link to the website, sharing messages on twitter and Linkedin, sharing via
newsletters and so on.
3. Keep up-to-date and sign up to receive the newsletter via www.breathefreely.org.uk
4. Come to an event and bring your colleagues:
We are holding free events on Breathe Freely where you can find out more about how you can
better protect the health of your workers. Confirmed dates confirmed are:
Haydock, 9th September 2015
Time: 8.30am – 11am. Breakfast is provided.
Location: Holiday Inn, Haydock http://www.hihaydockm6j23hotel.co.uk/
Fife, Scotland, 15th September 2015
Time: 8.30am – 11am. Breakfast is provided.
Location: MacDonald Inchyra Grange Hotel http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/ourhotels/macdonald-inchyra-hotel-spa/
London, 23rd September 2015
Location: Mace, 155 Moorgate, London EC2M 6XB
Time: 4.30pm – 7pm
Booking is essential and can be done via www.breathefreely.org.uk – bookings open on Friday 26th
June.
5. Request a ‘Breathe Freely’ speaker
If you are planning or are involved in an event where you think a Breathe Freely speaker
would be welcomed, eg. a company event or a local IOSH or Safety Group event, for
example – we will do our best to provide someone to come and speak - email
sharon.brunt@bohs.org with your request
6. Help us to develop more case studies
We are keen to build on our bank of case studies to share the good practice we know is out
there. If you have any ideas or suggestions of an initiative or project you think would make a
good case study, let us know about it! Please email sharon.brunt@bohs.org.