13
And breathing in fine particles of wood dust can lead to the
development of Asthma. The risk of lung disease is linked to
people who regularly breathe construction dust over a period
of time, not on the odd occasion.
To protect the lung, the COSHH Regulations sets a limit on
the amount of these dusts that you can breathe (called a
Workplace Exposure Limit or WEL) when averaged over a
normal working day. These limits are not a large amount of
dust: when compared to a penny it is tiny – like a small pinch
of salt:
This limit is the legal maximum; the most you can breathe
after the right controls have been used.
How to reduce the amount of dust?
1. Reduce the amount of cutting by using the best sizes of
building products.
2. Use a less powerful tool e.g. a block cutter instead of
angle grinder.
3. Using a different method of work altogether – e.g. using
a nail gun to direct fasten cable trays instead of drilling
holes first.
Please always work with approved safety equipment, such
as those dust masks that specially designed to filter out
microscopic particles and use the dust extraction facility at all
time.
For more information, please see the HSE website:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction or http://www.hse.gov.uk/
pubns/cis69.pdf
860 W Biscuit joiner_MNL_EBJ860_TPS_GB_V1_V20518_20180605.indd 13
6/5/18 9:03 AM
