video credit : HSE,UK

Regular inhalation or breathing in of construction dust can cause diseases like lung cancer, asthma, Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and silicosis. Construction workers have a high risk of developing these diseases because many construction activities can create high dust levels.

These diseases cause permanent disability and early death.

Construction dust is the generic name given to dust that is found on a construction site. It usually refers to three main types of dusts:

Silica dust. Silica is a natural substance present in many commonly used construction products, like bricks, tile and mortar. Silica dust is produced when construction and mineral processing activities are carried out on silica-containing materials, including sanding, cutting and drilling. These activities release very fine silica dust particles, known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS), which are fine enough to penetrate deeply into the lungs when breathed in.

Wood dust. Wood dust can be created when carrying out work activities on hardwood, softwood and wood-based products.

Lower toxicity dust, also known as non-silica dusts. These types of dusts are created from work activities on materials containing very little, or no, silica. For example, construction activities carried out on marble, limestone and gypsum.

It is very important that employers take reasonable measures to prevent occupational illness caused by these hazards to workers. All construction site managers should follow these steps to preventing these risks.

1..Assess the risks – identify the hazards associated with your workplace and work activities and assess the risks. You must consider:

The task itself. For example, consider the type of tools and materials that are being used to carry out the work activity.
The conditions of the work environment.
The duration and frequency with which a task is carried out.

2. Control the risks – select controls to effectively eliminate or reduce the risks associated with your workplace and work activities. You must consider controls in line with the hierarchy of control. The hierarchy of control is outlined below:

a. Eliminate the hazard. Consider ways in which you can eliminate the hazards. For example, you can eliminate dust-creating processes by ordering materials that are pre-cut, pre-prepared or pre-finished.

b. Substitute for a less hazardous alternative. Consider if you can change the process or materials used to reduce the risks. For example, choosing wet methods over dry methods, such as using wet coring instead of dry coring, or using no-drill fixings.

c. Engineering controls. Consider how you can alter or change the equipment used to reduce the risks. For example, could you use on-tool dust extraction, general mechanical ventilation or water suppression systems?

d.Administrative controls. Consider how you can amend your work procedures to reduce the risks. Types of administrative controls include ‘designing out’ hazards, installing warning signs, enforcing job rotation and safe systems of work, and ensuring employees are appropriately trained in their responsibilities.

e. Personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE should only ever be used as a last resort to reduce any residual risk to below an acceptable level. There is a legal duty on employers to consider the first four methods of the hierarchy of control to eliminate or reduce exposure to dust to below the workplace exposure limit (WEL). However, there are some situations where the use of one or more of the above controls can’t reduce dust exposure to below the WEL. Where this happens, suitable respiratory protective equipment (RPE) should be considered and used, alongside other controls, to reduce the risks to below the acceptable level.