Stone dust - health and safety advice

I have worked on many construction sites over my career. Some were building sites where myself and my team were employed on large projects and others were our own landscaping sites where I and my company had full control over risk and health and safety.

I remember my first few years as a young lad starting out and the contempt I had for health and safety.

I honestly thought it was created by grey suits who had nothing better to do.

I found it time consuming, confusing and expensive and it was not until my company expanded that I came to view it as extremely important.

Oh how I wish I could turn the clock back - when my Grandfather died he was on an oxygen bottle and suffered chronically with Emphysema. My own Dad also suffers and although I am - as far as I know - OK, I can look back with horror at the occasions I worked without any form of respiratory protection.

My earliest recollection was from working as a car cleaner and sitting in cars with their doors closed and spraying the vinyl with silicone spray. At times the white cloud was too dense to see through.

All through my landscaping and gardening career I have used chemicals and powders or created dust with cutting and breaking equipment or by shovelling cement and lime products.

Protecting your employees and yourself

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has produced an advisory .pdf document called Stone Dust and You to explain what an employer or an employer should do to protect themselves from dusts in the work place.

Anyone working in areas of construction such as building or landscaping may be exposed to Crystalline silica and in danger of suffering silicosis from breathing in Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS). Long term exposure to RCS may lead to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases including bronchitis and emphysema. Control of fine dusts can reduce the risk to health.

Employers have a duty of care and must comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.

Stone masons are one particular trade that have long term exposure to dust and potential respiratory disorders.

Further reading - Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Essentials guidance