Inspectors will be visiting woodworking businesses across Great Britain in April

Around 12,000 people die every year from lung diseases linked to past exposure to hazardous substances at work in the UK. Dust exposure contributes to many occupational illnesses, but the consequences are often overlooked despite the high risk and resulting impact on health. 
 

From April 2022, HSE inspectors will be visiting woodworking businesses across Great Britain to ensure duty holders know the risks associated with woodworking, including wood dust, and have effective controls in place to protect workers’ safety and respiratory health. 
 

What will HSE inspectors be looking for?

Inspectors will be looking for evidence that employers have considered the control measures required to reduce workers’ exposure to wood dusts. In addition, inspecting bodies will assess if workers understand that exposure to wood dusts can damage their long-term respiratory health and evaluate whether effective control measures are in place to protect workers from harm.
 

Find out what inspectors typically look for

 

Wood dust – what you need to know 

Wood dust inhalation can cause occupational asthma and sinonasal cancer in the case of hardwoods. As dust is a silent and sometimes invisible threat that can take years to show visible damage, many signs will be missed until it is too late. Wood dust can also contain bacteria and spores.

Both hardwood and softwood dusts have a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) that should never be exceeded to protect worker safety. All employees on sites and work areas are at risk of dust exposure, but according to the HSE, carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to develop respiratory illnesses such as asthma than other UK workers.

To limit the very real risks of dust inhalation, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 require that you protect workers from the hazards of wood dust. Wood dust is also flammable and can cause a fire or explosion, putting workers and workplaces at additional risk.

Click here for the latest guidance on what you need to know.

Watch this video to show the increased dust levels in situ.

 

How V-TUF can help protect woodworkers from wood dust

You must determine what tasks cause the most dust to assess how to control the risks. Through years of research and industry-specific risk assessment, V-TUF has reactively and diligently created functional wood dust extraction and collection products that protect workers against respiratory risks.  

The carefully curated V-TUF dust extraction range limits exposure and inhalation during tasks that produce dust. 

The following activities are likely to produce high wood dust exposure (some over long periods): 

• Machining operations, particularly sawing, routing and turning

• Sanding, by machine and by hand

• Using compressed airlines to blow dust off furniture and other articles (to be avoided) before spraying

• Hand assembly of machined or sanded components

• Operations involving processing composite boards, e.g., medium-density fibreboard (MDF)

• Bagging dust from dust extraction systems

• Sweeping up wood dust from floors  

So how can V-TUF products help reduce the risks linked to dust inhalation in woodworking workshops?

 

Health V-TUF vacuums 

Using an unrated vacuum cleaner can exhaust large amounts of respirable dust into the air once it has bypassed the filtration system and motor. This dust can remain airborne for up to 8 hours in the breathing space of the tool operator. 

Only a rated vacuum cleaner will guarantee the safe collection, capture and disposal of harmful wood dusts. Only an M-Class or H-Class vacuum will comply with most health and safety guidelines for dust extraction. 

The V-TUF range of health-rated vacuum cleaners will help control dust exposure on woodworking sites to a safe level to protect workers. 
 

Watch the toner demonstration

Dustless sweeping add-ons 

Traditional sweeping generates huge amounts of hazardous dust and settled dust contains the fine particles most likely to damage the lungs. Fine dust can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where it will do the most damage. Fine dust will also spread further from the cutting process, so it must be sufficiently controlled at the source.

V-TUF dustless cleaning heads extract even the finest dust and keep sites clean and workers much safer when used with H/M-Class vacuums. 
 

Watch the dustless sweeping methodology

 

Sander extraction cuffs

Sanding attachments can have small extraction ports that cause restrictions on the volumetric extraction airflow, which can affect the extraction velocity monitor. The VTM130 shroud lets you tune the sanding tool airflow with the extractor velocity monitor. 

View the sander adaptor online

V-TUF DRILL POD 

The V-TUF POD shroud tool extracts dust during drilling by sucking to the surface and creating a flush seal using an M-Class V-TUF extraction vacuum. 

With extraction handled safely in one hand, your other is free to operate the drill while the V-TUF POD extracts all the fine dust before it becomes airborne.  

The VTM208 drill shroud is recommended for use with the MINI, MIDI, MIGHTY, STACKVAC and RUCKVAC-iON. 

Watch the drilling pod in action

V-TUF COBRA extraction scraper 

If paint scraping tasks feature in your workshop, the COBRA dust extraction accessory provides built-in extraction through the handle when connected to a V-TUF rated extraction vacuum hose. In addition, the ergonomic grip and curved pushdown pad on top of the tool provide comfort, health and speed during woodwork restoration.  

The COBRA reduces the presence of dust and lead contaminants and will save you time and money on every job. 

See the COBRA in action

Health surveillance 

In addition to extraction products and PPE, health surveillance should be integrated into sites and workshops that present a respiratory risk. Because of the long-term nature of wood dust ailments, health effects must be picked up early. 

Health surveillance levels will vary depending on the type of woods used, e.g., high levels of health surveillance and lung function testing are needed for exposures to woods such as western red cedar. 

View the official COSHH health surveillance page for more information about health surveillance.

 

Don’t risk the safety of workers or failure to comply with HSE inspection standards. View the V-TUF dust extraction range today or talk to one of our experts for more information.