The Healtha nd Safety Executive (HSE) sent an e-bulletin out last month to advise UK businesses that ‘HSE Inspectors will be visiting woodworking businesses across Great Britain to ensure duty-holders know the risks associated with woodworking and have effective controls in place to keep workers safe and protect their respiratory health.’
This inspection programme will begin in April 2022 and Inspectors will be tasked with ‘looking for evidence that employers have considered the control measures required to reduce workers’ exposure to wood dusts; workers understand that exposure to wood dusts can damage their long-term respiratory health; and that effective control measures are in place to protect workers from harm.’
The long-term time-weighted average (TWA) Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) for hardwood dust was reduced from 5mg/m³ to 3mg/m³ on 17th January 2020. Hardwood dust is classed as ‘Carc’ which means it is capable of causing cancer and/or heritable genetic damage, and ‘Sen’ which means exposure may cause occupational asthma.
For this reason, exposure to hardwood dust is controlled under COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) Regulations 2002. During visits to workshops which undertake woodworking operations, HSE Inspectors will be checking that effective controls are being used and all paperwork including risk assessments, health surveillance, and maintenance and test records for any extraction equipment (local exhaust ventilation systems) are in order.
Schedule 9 of the COSHH regs requires all LEV systems to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition, and thoroughly tested and examined at least once every 14 months.
Filtermist Systems provides a comprehensive aftersales service that includes routine and reactive maintenance, COSHH compliant LEV Testing, air monitoring and air sampling services, as well as spares and consumables for a huge range of dust extraction systems including systems designed to effectively control wood dust.
Aftermarket Sales Team Leader Jane Boon comments, “This latest inspection programme comes hot on the heels of the fabricated metals inspection programme which has been running for the past 12 months.
“Fitting extraction is not enough – employers must be able to prove that the LEV is fit for purpose and regularly maintained and tested in line with the requirements of COSHH. We provide a wide range of services designed to make this easier for customers including the provision of LEV logbooks which include recommendations for checks which should be undertaken on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis, as well as space to record routine servicing and LEV tests.”
The HSE website contains a dedicated section on woodworking which is designed to ‘help employers, the self-employed and franchisees to comply with COSHH Regulations 2002, as amended, to control exposure to wood dusts, etc, and protect workers health.’ Downloadable resources include an advice sheet for managers (WD0) and information based on specific equipment including bandsaws, sanding machines, CNC routers and planers.
Contact our team now to find out how Filtermist can ensure your business is COSHH compliant should the HSE pay you a visit.
A full list of WELs can be found in HSE publication EH40/2005 Workplace Exposure Limits (WELS).