Breathing in dust and hazardous substances can cause serious damage to your nasal passages,
windpipe and lungs.
So where do these risks come from?
There are a number of places…
1. Dust on surfaces
2. Dust exposure on building sites, farms and even bakeries
3. Dust from sanding, woodworking and stone cutting and
4. Exposure to asbestos, especially in maintenance work
Also your health is at risk from breathing in vapours and fumes when working with or
5. Mixing and decanting chemicals
6. Disturbing contaminated surfaces
7. Being exposed to fumes from welding, vehicles or lab work
What are the causes of exposure?
Exposure to dust or fumes can be as a result of many things including the obvious such
as
9. poor house keeping
But also
10. poor extraction at the source of the problem
11. Poorly maintained or ill-fitting masks or respirators
12. lack of proper storage and
13. spillages
And finally an overall
14. lack of suitable training and awareness of the problems and health risks
So how does all this affect your health?
Your health can be seriously damaged by exposure, which can result in:
15A. You not being about to do the activities you take for granted
15. Work related asthma
16. Obstruction of the airways known as COPD
17. Respiratory allergy and sensitisation
18. Cancers and
19. Asbestosis
And don’t forget
20. Smoking will just make it worse
So how do you control the risks?
First of all, determine the controls suitable to your workplace. There are a number of practical
things you can do such as:
21. Install good extraction systems for removing the dust and fumes
And don’t forget to
22. Maintain your equipment
23. Avoid working with asbestos by doing the work in some other way
24. Take measures to Dampen down dusty areas/tasks
25. Minimise contamination to your clothing and work surfaces
26. Select the correct respirator, or mask for the substances you are working with
27. Keep monitoring your systems for reduction in dust and fumes levels
And finally
28. Practice good storage and house keeping, such as cleaning up spills quickly
Following these examples will help reduce your health risks at work. For more information
check out the ‘get help’ chapter at the end of this DVD and in the guidance pack.