H & S BS

[V8Druid]

we don't seem to really have a thread covering 'interesting news' on this front and did not know where to put this one so ......

Norfolk saw mill fined £40k for dust offences

A wood supplier has been fined £40,000 for failing to protect its workers from exposure to wood dust.

www.theconstructionindex.co.uk

" .........visited by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in April 2023. Dust was found scattered across the floor "

it's a saw mill FFS .... there is only sooooo much you can do to contain it you can't mill wood without creating dust and only so much can be contained
you should see Pontrilas mills ..... it's on the floor, walls, roof purlins, everywhere - some roofs even have 3-4 ft sat on them

and on a side note - was told a week or two ago that Pontrilas have sold out ?? but can't find a thing about it anywhere

 

[JD450A]

“To make matters worse, this company had been visited previously and had failed to take steps to protect its workers.

To be fair, that is where the issue is.

 

[V8Druid]

“To make matters worse, this company had been visited previously and had failed to take steps to protect its workers.

To be fair, that is where the issue is.

agreed Rory - they brought the fine upon themselves ..
but how many times a day is it reasonable to expect a clear up? ..
mills create mess - lots of it - the pix in the article are insignificantly minute, compared to my comparator exemplar, of which I have first hand experience ...
would take months to clear up there.
H&S obviously never visit there - ever !!

 

[V8Druid]

different material - same issue and can imagine this must be a nightmare to control or work with

Worktop supplier fined for repeat dust failures

A company that manufactures stone kitchen worktops has been fined £60,000 after it repeatedly failed to protect workers from exposure to hazardous dust.

www.theconstructionindex.co.uk

 

[Smiffy]

agreed Rory - they brought the fine upon themselves ..
but how many times a day is it reasonable to expect a clear up? ..
mills create mess - lots of it - the pix in the article are insignificantly minute, compared to my comparator exemplar, of which I have first hand experience ...
would take months to clear up there.
H&S obviously never visit there - ever !!

Quite simple to resolve actually. These are already available and it won't be long until they are industry standard virtually at all times. A disposable dust mask has a life span of 20mins when in use. So if used correctly these are actually cheaper for most trades than disposable.

JSP Powercap® Infinity® PAPR - Complete unit - White

The JSP Force™8 twin cartridge half mask with Typhoon™ valve offers superior low breathing resistance and a 4-point suspension harness with quick release buckles. The mask is made with a durable thermoplastic rubber offering a superior fit to most face shapes. The mask provides protection...

dustarrest.com

 

[6feetdown]

Pretty sure wood dust on the walls most insurance policies ask for it to be cleaned regularly.
Couple of petrol blowers open all the doors when nobody is about lol

 

[kabin man]

There are big issues with engineered stone products, namely kitchen worktops. The evidence is there. Its been identified for a while in other countries. the banning of these products in the uk will come. Im not a fan of endless regulations and fines/nannying, but sometimes new legislation is useful. Some interesting reading here.

https://www.britsafe.org/safety-management/2025/engineered-stone-managing-a-deadlier-kind-of-dust
https://www.britsafe.org/safety-man...artificial-stone-worktops-over-silicosis-risk

 

[Lancs Lad]

TBF anyone using joinery equipment without dust extraction now needs their heads looking at.
The tools run and last a lot better for starters....

 

[6feetdown]

TBF anyone using joinery equipment without dust extraction now needs their heads looking at.
The tools run and last a lot better for starters....

That's why I had so much festool kit.
They marketed their tools on good dust extraction. When doing solid surface always had the vacuum connected where I could

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Trouble is - we keep making things safer and safer (and mostly a good thing) then allow the public to buy stuff in that is made in other parts of the world where the workers do not have the same level of health and safety / protection. IMHO we should not be allowed to import ANYTHING into UK that is produced with lower standards than in UK - or they should be taxed to make them comparative. Not just products but FOOD as well. We demand that we/our kids are safe and protected at work - yet quite happily outsource all the danger/risk/side effects to some other poor bugger elsewhere in the world.

 

[V8Druid]

Trouble is - we keep making things safer and safer (and mostly a good thing) then allow the public to buy stuff in that is made in other parts of the world where the workers do not have the same level of health and safety / protection. IMHO we should not be allowed to import ANYTHING into UK that is produced with lower standards than in UK - or they should be taxed to make them comparative. Not just products but FOOD as well. We demand that we/our kids are safe and protected at work - yet quite happily outsource all the danger/risk/side effects to some other poor bugger elsewhere in the world.

would need to be on at the very least a continental scale if not global to make it work though - and that will never happen ... the flip flop brigade'd never wear toe caps - or be able to afford a pair ... and that's just the start of it, with just the labour market, as one simple example.

 

[Smiffy]

would need to be on at the very least a continental scale if not global to make it work though - and that will never happen ... the flip flop brigade'd never wear toe caps - or be able to afford a pair ... and that's just the start of it, with just the labour market, as one simple example.

I think at the end of the day, unfortunate as it is, our level of welfare and health and safety is unsustainable. Especially when coupled to our levels of consumerism.

 

[Stroppymonkey]

would need to be on at the very least a continental scale if not global to make it work though - and that will never happen ... the flip flop brigade'd never wear toe caps - or be able to afford a pair ... and that's just the start of it, with just the labour market, as one simple example.

flip flop brigade (as you call them) are just doing in their country what we were doing in this end of the world 60+years ago, just getting s**t done. Having been brought up in a rural agricultural setting, most of these amazing videos of 3rd world engineering remind me of Devon in the 1980s..(which was basically the 60s due to our time lag) Ignore the different suntan and swap the robes and sandals for overalls and wellies and we are all the same.

 

[doobin]

Pretty sure wood dust on the walls most insurance policies ask for it to be cleaned regularly.
Couple of petrol blowers open all the doors when nobody is about lol

That’s what I do. Much easier than sweeping or hoovering.

 

[Storrsy]

You don't have to be working in a quarry or cutting up worktops to be exposed to silicosis risk. Just hoofing buckets of soil around when it's hot and dusty theres massive amounts of it present in the soil (depending where you live) around here soil is largely made up of degraded granite- dread to think how much enters my lungs inadvertently even outside. What do you do though- wear a mask for everything?! Cutting up fence posts the other day- probably inhaled some tannalith dust..

 

[V8Druid]

You don't have to be working in a quarry or cutting up worktops to be exposed to silicosis risk. Just hoofing buckets of soil around when it's hot and dusty theres massive amounts of it present in the soil (depending where you live) around here soil is largely made up of degraded granite- dread to think how much enters my lungs inadvertently even outside. What do you do though- wear a mask for everything?! Cutting up fence posts the other day- probably inhaled some tannalith dust..

everything in life's a risk - just do the RA