Respiratory Protection Crackdown as HSE Commences Construction Firm Inspections

HSE’s inspectors across the UK are targeting construction firms to ensure health standards are up to scratch. Inspections commenced from 4 October 2021 and are focusing on control measures businesses have in place to protect their workers’ lungs from construction dust including silica, asbestos and wood dust.

Inspectors are looking for evidence of employers and workers knowing the risks, planning their work and using the right controls. If necessary, they are using enforcement to make sure people are protected.

Silica dust is a hazard that causes serious health issues for workers. Approximately 500 UK construction workers die each year from silicosis. The amounts needed to cause this damage are not large, and the effects are often not immediately detectable. Unfortunately, by the time it is noticed the total damage done may already be serious and life-changing. There are actions employers can take today to ensure the ongoing protection of their staff whilst exposed to crystalline silica.

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Should I be concerned about Silica Exposure?

Crystalline silica is a natural mineral found in construction materials such as concrete, bricks, tiles, mortar and engineered stone.

The amount of crystalline silica in products can vary. Examples include:

Brick – Up to 30%

Tile – 30-45%

Granite 20-45%

Concrete/Mortar 25-70%

Sandstone 70-90%

Engineered stone 90%+

If you are not sure if a product contains crystalline silica, check the safety data sheet or other information from the supplier.

Managing Exposure to Crystalline Silica

 Specific construction activities that may generate silica include:

- Saw cutting and jack hammering of concrete or asphalt

- Cutting and shaping stone

- Excavation work

- Site preparation and clean-up (sweeping)

When looking to protect staff from any airborne contaminants, Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs), offer high and reliable protection, far exceeding disposable masks (FFP3). With a positive pressure respirator, there is significantly less risk of airborne contaminants breaching the mask and the wearer inhaling contaminants even during inadvertent mask movement, such as when the wearer adjusts the mask or speaks.

Construction operations are inherently remote and involve staff performing highly mobile, physically demanding tasks over long shifts. Traditionally, these issues along with mask fitting, training, compliance and maintenance have been major barriers to effective respiratory protection.

One company that understands all these challenges is CleanSpace Technology. Founded by ex-ResMed biomedical engineers, the company has utilised their medical device know-how to revolutionise the respiratory protection industry.

For more than 10 years, CleanSpace Respirators have enabled thousands of operators in industrial markets to work safely in comfort and with minimal intrusion to the task at hand.

“After working along the hierarchy of hazard control, respirators can become an operators’ most essential line of personal protection. When every breath counts, respirators must help operators to work in heat, humidity, darkness, remote, awkward or tight spaces while carrying other equipment. Despite the serious nature of respiratory hazards, masks can be a burden,” said CleanSpace Technology CEO Dr Alex Birrell.

In the last 20 years, technology has driven unprecedented advances in medical equipment and transformed people’s health. With advances in respirator technology, construction workers can feasibly have the option of PAPRs. Where once these were belt mounted and cumbersome, the biomedical engineers from CleanSpace Technology developed a lightweight, compact, design which enables staff to rapidly put on their masks and freely undertake activities like bending, sitting, and getting in and out of vehicles. The respirators offer 99.95% filtration efficiency and have up to 8 hours operating time.

“Regulatory compliance is important, but employee acceptance and use is everything.   After being properly trained and fit tested, if a worker finds their respiratory protection uncomfortable, tight, hot or is getting in the way of their work they are at high risk of not using respiratory protection at all and/or incorrectly utilising the respiratory equipment provided,” Dr Birrell explains.

When evaluating equipment, it is important to know your workers and the conditions that they will use the equipment will be used.   For example, in dusty, hot, or humid environments a disposable N95/FFP3 mask can become hot, moist, clogged and collapse.  By providing the worker with on-demand powered airflow, the respirator can act like a portable fan pushing fresh air into the mask cooling the worker and is small enough to allow high mobility and portability. 

“Our revolutionary compact design is enabling thousands of operators around the world to work safely in comfort and with minimal intrusion to the task at hand. At the end of the day, workers finish the shift with clean face with no grit in their nose of mouth – re-enforcing the message that the mask is protecting them.  This will lead to much greater worker adoption and compliance. We’re helping meet an organisation’s duty of care in managing down the safety risks in their operations,” said Dr Birrell.

The Importance of Internationally Recognised PPE  

The importance of internationally recognised certifications and approvals has yet again been highlighted following increased reporting of counterfeit and poor-quality filtering facepiece respirators and PPE. US regulators recently banned the products of one of the world’s largest N95 manufacturers due to unsatisfactory quality management systems. This follows a safety alert from HSE at the start of the pandemic where there was an influx of fake respiratory protection equipment circulating, including within the UK construction sector. 

The CleanSpace respirators hold the highest levels of approvals internationally, including Europe’s CE mark, the USA’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

“Respiratory protection has never been more important. Employers should be able to purchase reliable equipment and workers should be able to wear their PPE with confidence. This ruling serves as a reminder that highly protective, approved mask solutions is available and be deployed immediately for at risk workers. CleanSpace PAPRs are fully approved and widely used in industrial settings for the protection against airborne hazards and are the best practice for high-risk settings,” Dr Birrell said.

"Better PPE gives everyone peace of mind," she says.