Hazardous substances

Owner must pay £220k for multiple safety breaches

A car bodysprayer developed occupational asthma after using paints that contained isocyanates without adequate controls measures in place, a court has heard.

Only 19% of the organisations potentially exposing employees to asthmagens have health surveillance, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its enforcement guidance after new evidence found that exposure to even mild steel welding fume can cause lung cancer and possibly kidney cancer.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a farm after a faulty chemicals pump sprayer ruptured into the face of the employee. 

The University of Edinburgh has been accused of “completely failing to grasp the importance of risk-based health surveillance,” by an HSE inspector after two researchers were exposed to rodents, despite being allergic.

A petition to include mandatory quick response (QR) codes on hazardous substances that link to Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) from manufacturers has been created.

A study led by King’s College London researchers and funded by IOSH has found that taxi drivers experience the highest exposures to black carbon, an indicator of diesel engine fumes, compared to other professional drivers including couriers, truck drivers, waste removal and emergency service workers.

Queensland is to introduce Australia’s first code of practice for the stone benchtop industry.

The UK government is looking at the feasibility of adding the use of alcohol interlocks to drink-driver rehabilitation programmes.