Cases of Occupational Asthma on the Rise, IOSH Reports
Statistics show an alarming rise in the cases of occupational asthma in the United Kingdom’s workplace with as many as 1,500 to 3,000 people getting affected every year. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has sounded an alarm to employers of the need to protect their workers from this growing menace.
On an average about 7,000 people in the UK are thought to be afflicted with occupational asthma either caused by their work or aggravated due to work conditions. In some serious cases, people have been rendered invalid due to asthma.
As a result of this, employers are losing about tens of millions of work days each year, amounting to almost a billion pounds of loss each decade.
The workers most prone to this risk are bakers, vehicle spray painters, laboratory workers, moulder and people from similar professions who are exposed to harmful particulate matter day in and day out. The Control of Substances (Hazardous to Health) Regulations set out what employers must do in order to manage the risks associated with the use of hazardous substances. Click on COSHH courses for training which will enable you to put together plans to prevent and control these substances so that your business and your employees can work safely.
The IOSH’s President, Ms Nattasha Freeman, stated that employers have a legal duty to ensure protection to their workers who are exposed to substances that can harm health and to also provide personal protective gear to decrease the risk.
She also stated that respiratory diseases cause fatal casualties in one out of five cases in the UK, while ruining many more lives. There is a need to do more to ensure the prevention of asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases. Help from the health and safety professionals must be sought by employers to ensure their workforce doesn’t develop these damaging diseases.
