TECHNICAL INFORMATION

BOHS

The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) is the professional body for occupational hygienists in the UK. BOHS develops the syllabuses for professional training courses and awards internationally-recognised qualifications in occupational hygiene. The BOHS Faculty of Occupational Hygiene regulates the profession. OHS Scotland is listed in the BOHS Directory of Occupational Hygiene Consultants.

For more information, visit www.bohs.org

HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes a wealth of material on occupational hygiene topics, especially those that impact on health and safety legislation. Innovative tools to aid chemical risk assessments such as COSHH Essentials (www.coshh-essentials.org.uk) are available free of charge.

The HSE website (www.hse.gov.uk) is a valuable source of current information on all aspects of health and safety.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN LEGISLATION

Risks from work with most hazardous substances are covered in the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002. Specialised guidance on work with carcinogens, asthma-causing substances and hazardous biological agents are included in the COSHH Approved Code of Practice.

Separate legislation exists for work with lead (the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002) and asbestos (the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006).

The main legislation for the workplace noise hazard is the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 similarly legislates for hazards from hand-arm and whole-body vibration in the workplace.

Other items of legislation where an occupational hygienist can provide a valuable input include:

  • • The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992
  • • The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
  • • The Heath and Safety (Display screen equipment) Regulations 1992
  • • The Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
  • • The Management of Health and safety at Work Regulations 1999

New regulations on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) are in the pipeline and are likely to have a major impact on businesses in the chemical supply chain.

For more information, visit the HSE website or the site for the European Chemicals Agency (http://echa.europa.eu)

Government Statistics

"2.1 million people were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work."