Did you know that carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to develop asthma compared to other UK workers? If wood dust is inhaled it can cause potentially life changing illnesses. Some of the illnesses include; hypersensitivity pneumonitis, occupational asthma and cancer.
In 2016, during a HSE inspection, a joinery company’s extraction system was found to be inefficient, therefore exposed employees to harmful levels of hardwood dust. The furniture manufacturing company was fined £8,000 and also ordered to pay costs of £1,081 due to these findings.
Any process producing harmful dust and fumes must have an extraction system to protect employees, therefore adhering to HSE guidelines and COSHH regulations. A local exhaust ventilation (LEV) system must be tested for effectiveness at least once every 14 months. If the joinery company had performed this service, they would have noticed that the machine was inefficient. This could then have been corrected, therefore protecting their employees’ health and avoiding a £8,000 fine.
Impact Technical Services specialise in dust and fume extraction, providing bespoke LEV systems. Extracting dangerous dusts and/or fumes at their source keeps levels of hazardous airborne particles below work place exposure limits, this means that employees are not in danger of potentially developing life changing diseases due to work. Impact’s extraction products include; downdraught benches, extraction arms, mobile extraction units, oil mist extraction and diesel fume extraction hoods, hose reels and full central systems. These products will provide protection for employees during a variety of tasks such as gluing, spraying, welding, soldering, and polishing.
Act today, call us on 01162448855 or email [email protected]
View our extraction product range here.