Monitoring silica dust exposure ‘matter of urgency’, group warns

MPs and peers have called for real-time monitoring of silica dust to be looked at as a “matter of urgency” as it is the biggest health risk to construction workers after asbestos.

Silicosis is defined by the NHS as “a long-term lung disease caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silica dust usually over many years”. It is caused by respirable crystalline silica, which is created when bricks or stone are fractured, cut or drilled into.

An estimated 600,000 UK workers are exposed to silica annually, while across Europe figures show that 81 per cent of those exposed work either in construction or in manufacturing products used in the industry.

The monitoring plea is among a series of recommendations in a new 29-page report on the lung disease silicosis by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Respiratory Health. The report is a follow-up to recommendations made by the group in 2020.

In the report, the cross-party group urges the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to take “active steps” to look into real-time monitoring systems of silica as “a matter of some urgency”.

It also called on the HSE to undertake an industry-awareness campaign on the “dangers of respirable crystalline silica in order to improve compliance with the existing work exposure limits”.

Jim Shannon MP, chair of the APPG, said: “The tragedy is that silicosis is entirely preventable and yet hundreds of thousands of workers are exposed to silica dust every year.”

An HSE spokesperson told Construction News: “We fully engaged with the APPG and welcome its work to bring attention to the risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

“We are reviewing the report and will consider its recommendations. We recognise that worker exposure remains a significant issue. This is a priority for us – we share the aim of protecting the workforce and reducing deaths from silicosis.

“We have a robust and well-established framework in place to protect workers from the health risks associated with exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace.”

Elsewhere in the report, the MPs also called for more to be done on educating young people on the dangers of silica.

The Department for Education (DfE) should consider the “inclusion of silica-related risk as a compulsory syllabus item for all building and construction modules in government-funded apprenticeship schemes and further education courses,” they said.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education works closely with employers in the construction industry to develop and update content for apprenticeships and related training. The recommendations on silicosis are being taken very seriously as part of this process.”

The report also recommended that silicosis be included as a notifiable disease in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.

Shannon added: “Silicosis is rarely the recorded reason for death but it causes significant comorbidities – it increases the likelihood of developing other health issues such as tuberculosis, chest infections, heart failure, arthritis, kidney disease, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.”

The Department of Health & Social Care has been contacted for comment.