Every year thousands of people in Britain die as a result of breathing in carcinogenic and other hazardous substances at work, and a disproportionate number of these individuals are former construction workers.

The focus for BOHS, the Chartered Society for Worker Health Protection – occupational hygiene – is essentially about the preventative side of occupational health, ie controlling exposure to workplace health hazards.

On 28 April 2015, Workers’ Memorial Day, BOHS launched a new initiative called Breathe Freely aimed at controlling exposures to prevent occupational lung disease in the construction industry. 

The initiative was borne out of an understanding that the construction sector, and specifically lung disease in the industry, is crucial to reducing occupational mortality in Britain:

•  Each year, in Great Britain, there are 13,000 work-related deaths caused by occupational disease compared to about 150 due to accidents at work. 

•  About 8000 of these deaths are due to occupational cancer and the construction industry accounts for the largest proportion (more than 40%, or 3500).

•  The majority are caused by breathing in carcinogenic substances, with the most significant carcinogens in the construction sector being past exposure to asbestos (69%), followed by silica (17%), chemicals used by painters and diesel engine exhaust fumes (6 to 7% each).

•  It is also estimated that around 4000 annual work-related deaths could be the result of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – bronchitis and emphysema – and again, the construction sector is among the top five industries for deaths from COPD. 

Breathe Freely

Since its successful launch, the Breathe Freely initiative – http://www.breathefreely.org.uk/ – has attracted unprecedented levels of support from employers, trade unions and other influential people and organisations.

An packed calendar of activities in 2015 included Breathe Freely roadshows around the country for construction managers and site supervisors, designed to offer practical advice on managing health and equipping attendees to make improvements on their sites. The Society also launched the Health in Industry (HI) Management Standard, setting out best practice criteria for worker health protection. Companies can sign up to the Standard and self-assess how they are performing. In addition, a wide range of free guidance materials have been published on the Breathe Freely website, including best practice case studies, fact sheets and a Good Business Case proving that not only is good occupational hygiene the right thing to do but that it makes excellent business sense too. 

A key message of the Breathe Freely initiative is that effective occupational hygiene solutions need not be complex. Informed purchasing decisions can ensure that plant and equipment has health protection systems already built-in. A wide variety of occupational hygiene solutions can be applied to plant and equipment to protect workers’ health including simple modifications such as fitting water suppression or extraction systems to power tools. Respiratory protective equipment (RPE) may also be needed but should only be used as a last resort, where other solutions aren’t practicable, or as a secondary control,

2016 and beyond

As the Breathe Freely initiative gains momentum, 2016 promises to be another busy year with:

•  More free guidance materials due for release soon, including a construction manager’s toolkit

•  A new series of roadshows

•  A one day Breathe Freely conference in April in Glasgow 

•  The next iteration of the HI Management Standard

•  A new Breathe Freely Facebook page to facilitate the sharing of best practice.

BOHS’s vision is that all of these projects, applied as they are in partnership with the collaborative efforts of employers, trade unions and government agencies, will ultimately bring about a future in which workers can breathe freely.