Occupational Hygiene

Many Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facilities incorporate Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plants to make efficient use of the biogas created by the process. As has previously been discussed in our What Is Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas and Anaerobic Digestion Process: From Waste To Energy articles, AD of organic material produces two outputs, namely digestate and […]

Recently, the Health and Safety Executive won a case against a paint spraying company in Derbyshire who had not complied with a number of improvement orders related to isocyanate exposure. The defendant was fined a total of £5,600 in fines and court costs. What Are Isocyanates? First, a bit of chemistry, isocyanates are organic (carbon […]

Ensuring your company is both compliant with all the relevant health and safety legislation and COSHH Workplace Exposure Limits can be difficult and confusing. How do you know if the dust levels within your workplace are excessive? Or if your employees are wearing the correct PPE? That’s why we’ve put together this Construction Dust Action Planner to help […]

There are numerous types of plastics used throughout industry in a range of applications. Plastics are generally based on polymers, which are large strands based on multiple units of small molecules. For example, polystyrene, which looks like this: The plastic materials themselves are not an issue and from an occupational hygiene point of view, would need to […]

Legionella is a reportable disease under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), and since 2011, there have been 59 cases reported in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the UK alone. Legionella is water borne infection caused by the bacteria Legionella pneumophila (L.pneumophila) and while the numbers already appear low, […]

Construction Dust Risks A new Construction Dust Industry Survey released by both IOSH and CDP aimed to provide an insight into issues associated with on-site dust risks, how they are controlled and show that airborne dusts are a major cause of ill health in the construction industry. In Great Britain alone, there are over 500 deaths each year from Silica […]

Noise At Work Regulations: A Not So Silent Threat Did you know that in 2014 there were over 18,000 reported cases of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in the UK that noise at work regulations aim to reduce? Noise at work can cause permanent and disabling hearing damage, generally speaking hearing loss is a gradual process, caused by […]

Dusts can be classified as either total inhalable dust or respirable dust when referring to Silica dust monitoring. The different categories relate to the size of the dust particles in the atmosphere with respirable dust being finer and thus able to penetrate further into the lungs where it remains. Dust can be created from a […]

What Is Sick Building Syndrome? Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is a term used to describe a set of symptoms experienced by workers in a particular environment. It has been recognised as a phenomenon by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since 1982. Extensive studies by the HSE have estimated between 30 and 50% of new or […]

An updated Guidance Note has been released by the HSE regarding Ozone which outlines the potential health hazards and available control measures. It draws attention to the potential ill health which exposure to Ozone can cause and indicates potential sources of Ozone at work as well as offering advice on the precautions you may need […]

When workers are banned from doing something, the blame is often laid firmly on legislation relating to health and safety. However, this is sometimes just an excuse for an unpopular decision or an extreme over-interpretation of much less restrictive guidelines. Below we have outlined our Top 25 biggest Health and Safety Myths that we’ve either […]

What Is Occupational Hygiene? Occupational Hygiene relates to the protection of worker health and the associated business benefits. Ill health, disease and death from work activities puts a large social and economic burden on workers, their families, businesses and the UK as a whole. With consultants who are members of the BOHS, Envirocare aims to […]

The usual driver for carrying out MCERTS odour monitoring is the fact that there has been a complaint either directly to you or to the regulatory authority. This will invariably have come from a member of the public. The complainant and/or regulating authority will want to know that you take their complaint seriously and that […]

Chemicals In Printing Can Be Harmful Many chemicals are used in the printing industry including inks, adhesives, lacquers and cleaning solvents. All of which can cause various levels of ill health if workers or employees are exposed to them. Various vapours and mists can be inhaled and chemicals can cause skin problems or further damage […]

Envirocare, as part of our Occupational Hygiene and Safety Services offer expert audiometry tests throughout the UK and have provided services to some of the biggest printing, chemical, plastic, construction, wood, metal and glass manufacturing companies (to name a few) during our 20 years of service as a company. Earlier this week, in order to […]

The latest Health and Safety Statistics have been released by the HSE which covers health, safety and enforcement in Great Britain through 2012 to 2013. The key annual figures include: 148 workers killed at work – data over the past five years indicate a levelling off in the previous downward trend. 78,222 injuries to employees […]

A machinery manufacturer that produces agricultural and industrial equipment has been fined by the HSE after an investigation proved employees at the site were at a high risk of developing asthma through the spraying of a hazardous chemical due to Inadequate PPE. The verdict of poor personal protective equipment (PPE) came to light following an […]

What Is Health Surveillance? Health surveillance is basically a system of ongoing health checks that can sometimes be required by law for employees who are exposed to any one of the following: Vibration Noise Ionising Radiation Fumes Solvents Dusts or Biological Agents Compressed Air The main purpose of health surveillance is to protect the health […]

What Is Silica Dust? Silica is the most basic component of sand and rock. The most abundant type of crystalline silica is quartz but other common silica containing materials include: Concrete, Cement, Mortar Tiles, Brick, Granite Top Soil, Abrasive, Asphalt Silica is so common that any workplace activity using these materials that creates dust can expose workers to airborne silica and […]

A private care home in Wallasey has been ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs after it failed to manage the risk of elderly residents catching a potentially fatal form of pneumonia. The care home was prosecuted by the HSE after it failed to comply with an Improvement Notice to assess the risk from […]

Shannon Schuyler, corporate responsibility leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers‘ (PwC) has expressed that businesses must ask some “tough questions” and become more transparent if they wish to scale up their CSR commitments and that she was constantly looking to build on her company’s efforts to make Corporate Social Responsibility count in areas such as resource scarcity, climate […]

Foundry COSHH Assessments Major Foundry health risks encountered by people working in foundries are the exposure to a number of harmful substances. Harmful substances can include: Fine respirable dust which contains silica, large quantities of inhalable and respirable dusts, ferrous foundry particulates and metal dust and fumes. Other substances such as formaldehyde, phenol, acid fumes […]

Bradford Area Occupational Health & Safety Forum (BAOHSF) are pleased to offer an open to all free Legionella Seminar at Bradford City Hall on Tuesday 12th March 2013. The event, which is aimed at people in control of properties and businesses where man made water systems are installed kicks off at 9:30am. If you are […]

A chemical manufacturing company from Daventry has been fined for exposing staff to chemicals which were hazardous. One member of staff, a 46-year-old despatch officer, was diagnosed with occupational asthma and rhinitis after handling a variety of toxic substances, mainly in liquid form, that were classed as hazardous to health at Endeavour Speciality Chemicals Ltd. […]