Chapter 13 Controlling exposure to chemical hazards

Working with chemicals and other hazardous substances, no matter how innocuous they may appear to be, can and does pose serious risks to health with consequences that are often fatal, in some cases many years after the initial exposure; for example, asbestos, which is responsible for 100 000 deaths worldwide annually (Jukka Takala, International Labour Organisation (ILO), quoted in Hazards Magazine 2010; Takala, 2010) of which some 4500 (cancer and mesothelioma) are in the UK (HSE, 2014).

Other chemicals can create health conditions that may make it necessary to change the type of work that a person does; for example, exposure to a sensitising agent that causes dermatitis means that any task that involves exposure to that agent, even in tiny quantities, will bring about the allergic reaction thus rendering the job unsuitable for the affected worker. Sometimes the nature of the hazardous substance affects the lungs, leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) a condition that in its worst form makes any attempt to move extremely laborious and the affected person may spend the rest of their days housebound.