Construction Industry Briefing: Issue 2 (April 07)
The following topics are covered in this issue: health statistics, asbestos, legislation,risk assessments,inhaled particles and health and safety conference.
An article has been published in the latest issue of the Ergonomist journal (Vol 50: p446- 474) entitled 'Days of the week lost time occupational injury trends in the US by gender and industry and their implications for work scheduling'. The 2004 data for the number of injuries and illnesses that resulted in absence from work was provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Safety and Health Statistics. The analysis showed marked differences by day of the week, gender and industry sector. Monday had the second highest rate after Saturday. A possible reason for the poor Monday figures in the construction industry was reduced supervision on that day of the week. The abstract of the article is available below:
The latest issue of the Annals of Occupation al Hygiene includes an article by Garry Burdett and Delphine Bard of the Health and Safety Laboratory on monitoring exposure using personal passive samplers of UK industrial plumbers to asbestos. The article looks at the risk to maintenance workers who may disturb in the course of their work asbestos-containing materials. An abstract of the article is available below:
http://annhyg.oxfordjournals.org
The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) came into force on 6 April 2007. The HSE web site has been updated to include a link to the statutory instrument (SI2007/320) and an analysis of the 2007 CDM consultation process:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/legal.htm
A dissertation submitted and to Oregon State University, and accepted for the degree of PhD, entitled 'Sustainable construction safety and health rating system’, has been published online. A PDF version of the dissertation can be accessed from the following URL:
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/3805
The principal objective of the study was to 'incorporate construction worker safety and health into sustainable design and construction practices' using a construction worker safety and health planning tool called Sustainable Construction Safety and Health Rating System (SCSH)
An article entitled 'A simple diagnostic model for ruling out pneumoconiosis among construction workers; by Eva Suarthana, Karel GM Moons, Dick Heederik and Evert Meijer has been published online in 'Occupational and Environmental Hygiene'(4 April 2007). The abstract is available at the URL below:
The authors state that 'Construction workers exposed to silica-containing dust are at risk of developing silicosis even at low exposure levels'. The article mentions that 'Several exposure studies indeed demonstrated that the number of years of working in the construction industry could be used as a surrogate measure for cumulative exposure to silica' and references an IOM paper: Buchanan D et al. Quantitative relations between exposure to respirable quartz and risk of silicosis (Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2003; 60: 159-164). Reprint copies of the Buchanan article are available from Ken Dixon. One of the ‘main messages’ of the Suarthana paper is that a simple diagnostic model was ‘developed and shown to be an efficient and effective instrument to rule out pneumoconiosis among construction and natural stone workers’.
6. HEALTH AND SAFETY CONFERENCE
There is a ROSPA Construction Health and Safety Conference being held on 29 May 2007 as part of the Safety and Health Expo at NEC Birmingham. Details of the conference are available at the URL below:
http://www.safety-health-expo.co.uk
If you would like us to feature any specific construction occupational health issue then let us know.
CONSTRUCTION BRIEFINGS ARCHIVE
Construction Briefing (March 2007)