Health Surveillance for Occupational Asthma

As an employer, it's your legal responsibility to ensure that your employees and anyone visiting your premises are safe, this falls under your duty of care. By sticking to health and safety legislation and procedures, accidents can be managed or mitigated.

Where there are unavoidable risks you should do everything reasonably in your power to ensure the health and well-being of your workforce. This includes health surveillance for staff where there is a chance that they could develop ill health as a direct result of their work. 

Occupational asthma is one such condition that can develop as a result of working with certain substances, including substances hazardous to health, especially in industries like construction and metal work.

As an employer, failure to offer employees adequate protection and be compliant with health and safety laws can not only result in a human cost, but massive financial and reputational damage to your company. Not to mention prosecution at the hands of the law. 

For more advice and support on how your business can support employee health and well-being, talk to a Health and Safety advisor at Croner on 0800 470 2827.

What is health surveillance?

Health surveillance is the act of repeatedly gathering health checks from your employees about their health, this will help you identify ill health that’s caused by work. This includes collecting information on whether the employee has recently experienced shortness of breath, runny nose, chest tightness, and asthma attacks.

By law, employers are required to complete health surveillance if their employees are exposed to health risks, even after you’ve put protective measures in place to mitigate risks. This is because any control measures to reduce exposure aren’t always reliable.

Health surveillance should be done in conjunction with your risk assessments and safety data sheet. This is so you can help protect them while they are at work and offer support for employees if occupational asthma is diagnosed.

What is occupational asthma?

Occupational asthma is a type of asthma that’s caused by substances used in the workplace. Employees can be sensitive or even allergic to particular substances. It is an occupational health issue. 

When they are exposed to these substances, regardless of whether it's a low level, they can be asthma triggers.

Carrying out risk assessments and health surveillance for occupational asthma can help you identify symptoms earlier and adapt or reduce your employee's exposure to substances. This will, in turn, reduce your employee’s risk of developing occupational asthma.

What is the main cause of occupational asthma?

Asthma occurs when a person's airway becomes inflamed and makes the airway narrower and harder for the person to breathe. Work-related asthma is caused by breathing in harmful substances and irritants whilst at work. This includes wood dust, fumes (for example, epoxy resins), chemicals and animal fur.

Symptoms of occupational asthma include:

• Coughing
• Wheezing
• Tightness of the chest
• Shortness of breath
• Conjunctivitis (inflamed eyes)
• Rhinitis (This is where the inside of an individual's nose is inflamed, symptoms included blocked, runny or itchy nose)
• The signs and symptoms of occupational asthma can also depend on what substances your employees are using, and how long they are exposed to them.

Health surveillance for workers at risk from occupational asthma

You can manage the risks involved with occupational asthma, by introducing health surveillance to your health and safety process. 

An example of this is offering new employees an initial health questionnaire upon the employee starting work, this should be followed up 6 weeks later, to see if there has been any developments or the beginning of symptoms that can be linked to occupational asthma. 

You should conduct these surveys annually in order to manage any ill health that may develop as a result of employees working with substances at work known to exacerbate asthma and related respiratory conditions. 

Are there high-risk substances?

Depending on what industry you work in, can depend on what substances your employees will be exposed to, and each one will have risk factors.

Organic dust

These are particles that typically come from anything natural, like plants and animals. Employees who are at risk of inhaling these kinds of substances (wood dust, flour, cereal, tea and grains) are bakers, millers, carpenters, and any food or furniture manufacturers.

Animal substances

These types of substances are linked to organic dust but refer mainly to those that come from animals. These types of substances include bacterial dust, dander, hair or fur, small insects, protein dust, and mites. Sectors who are at risk of these substances are farmers, kennel workers, animal handlers (trainers and groomers), vets and jockeys.

Chemical dust and vapours

The types of substances an employee is exposed to vary when it comes to chemical dust and vapours, as they can be used in a variety of different industries. Such as foam mattress manufacturers, insulation installers, plastic manufacturing, packing materials and painters and decorators.

Metal

As with chemical dust and vapours, the types of substances an employee is exposed to depend on the industry and their exposure time to the material. The common harmful substances are chromium, nickel sulphate, platinum and soldering fumes.  These are found in metal manufacturers and refineries.

Speak to an expert

It is important that employers keep their employees safe while they are at work. If the control measures start to become ineffective, employers should reassess the use of the materials, implement measures to help protect their employees and carry out health surveillance for not occupational asthma. 

Croner has a team of award-winning Health and Safety consultants who are specialists in their field. We've been helping businesses for over 80 years and our advice line is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Why not speak to a Croner expert on  0800 470 2827.

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