WorkRight eBulletin: Inspection campaign to protect construction workers' lungs from dust

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Workright

HSE respiratory health inspection initiative for the construction sector

Site inspections across Great Britain throughout October 2021

This year HSE is focusing on the respiratory risks to construction workers from exposure to dust. Every week, workers develop lung diseases that can be severe and cause an early death.

Find out about the risks and how to protect your long-term health.

Be aware of the risks, and make sure you know how to stay safe

construction dust campaign

Employers: 

You have a legal responsibility to protect workers and if you do not do this adequately, you put yourself and your business at risk. 

Construction workers:

Don’t gamble with your future health by taking unnecessary risks today. 

Small builders:

Plan jobs to eliminate the risks from dust where you can. Otherwise, use measures to control dust and minimise the risk to yourself and others.   

 

Find out your rights, roles and responsibilities

I want to find out how to stay safe and keep my workers safe

  • The inspection initiative will run from Monday 4 - Friday 29 October, 2021.

  • The purpose of this initiative is twofold:

    (i) To support HSE's continuing strategy to improve the health of construction workers. 
    (ii) To support industry by raising awareness of health issues in relation to dust exposure.

 

Further information

  • This is not a one-off initiative but is part of HSE's wider-phased, strategic plan developed to improve health within the construction industry.

  • The Health in Construction Leadership Council (HCLG) and Tier 1 industry contractors continue to support HSE's long-standing commitment to improve health in the construction industry. HCLG is carrying out a parallel and complementary lung health initiative amongst its members, with extensive site visits throughout October to assess measures in place to protect workers from the respiratory risks from exposure to dust. Shared insights will provide HSE with a wider dataset to evaluate ongoing practices across industry and help inform the way HSE delivers future sector health initiatives.

 

For more information, view HSE’s press release.