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Attention: Health and safety media

Failure of voluntary guides and general duties to control asthma at work prompts call for new law

An article in the latest edition of Hazards magazine, out today, reports that employers are failing to control the causes of work-related asthma. As a result, 20 people a day needlessly develop this debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition.

The TUC is calling for a legally binding Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) to set out in detail what employers must do to prevent asthma.

TUC Senior Policy Officer Owen Tudor said: 'No one needs to develop asthma at work, so anyone who does has cause to be very bitter indeed. People only get one set of lungs, and employers have shown that guidance and general rules aren’t enough. We need a specific legal code on asthma to breathe some life back into workers’ lung safety.'

The survey of nearly a thousand union safety reps in workplaces, where asthma-causing substances are used regularly, showed that few employers were carrying out all of their general legal obligations. This shows that employers need specific instructions about how to deal with asthma. Measures which some employers are taking include:

• risk assessments - 41%

• health surveillance (monitoring workers’ health) - 28%

• providing breathing equipment - 26%

• training for workers - 23%

• ventilation - 22%

• substitution of the dangerous substance with one less dangerous - 8%

• enclosing the process which exposes workers to the asthma-causing substance - 6%

Existing legislation requires employers to make substitution the first step employers take, with breathing equipment the last.

According to the TUC survey, the main asthma-causing substances being used were:

• glues and resins (26% of workplaces surveyed)

• wood dust (20%)

• latex (17% - the TUC issued a report on latex allergies last week)

• isocyanates (11%)

• solder/colophony (10%)

• flour and grain (9%)

Workers likely to be exposed, range from those in manufacturing, carpenters and painters to bakers and nurses. The TUC estimates that about 7,000 people a year develop asthma as a result of their work.

Asthma is an allergic condition of the lungs and respiratory system, which can cause breathlessness, wheezing and in some cases can be so severe it is fatal. Generally, people who develop asthma at work have to leave their job and take a significant reduction in wages (although asthma and its causes can be controlled if properly managed).

Notes to Editors:

• All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk A series of TUC rights leaflets is available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 8am-10pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.
• Hazards magazine is available from PO Box 199, Sheffield S1 4YL and is supported by the TUC. For review copies contact Hazards at sub@hazards.org or on 01142 678 936. Subscriptions cost £10 a year for safety reps and £xx a year for others.
• The TUC survey of safety reps was made possible with financial support from the HSE and was analysed for the TUC by the Labour Research Department. 865 safety reps responded during May 2001 to a questionnaire distributed by post.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Stephanie Power on 020 7467 1310 or 07699 744115 (pager) or email spower@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor on 020 7467 1325 or 07788 715261 (mobile) or email otudor@tuc.org.uk

Press release (600 words) issued 16 Aug 2001