According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), around 450 people die from lung cancer associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in the UK construction industry every year.

Silica is the most common mineral in the Earth’s crust and is found in most rocks and sand as well as in building products such as bricks, concrete and cement. When these materials are cut or crushed, they create fine dust that can reach deep inside the lungs.

The Construction Dust Partnership is made up of a number of companies and member organisations - including influential bodies such as the HSE, Safety Groups UK and the Construction Industry Training Board - and is committed to raising awareness of this issue and promoting ways of preventing work-related respiratory diseases in the construction sector.

The webinar, hosted on 23 August, gave company owners, health and safety managers and site workers the chance to learn more about the threat of construction dusts, with a focus on RCS, ask questions and find out about resources available from the Construction Dust Partnership.

Led by 3M technical specialist, George Elliott, and Phil Haskins from Dustcontrol UK, the webinar addressed best practices for controlling respiratory hazards, covering methods of dust suppression and extraction, as well as the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect workers.

George said: “RCS and other respiratory hazards are a continual problem in the construction industry and can have terminal consequences. The Construction Dust Partnership does excellent work raising awareness of the issues so, as a company equally committed to tackling this, 3M was delighted to jointly run the webinar, a recording of which is available on request.”

Visit Safety Network to request a link to the webinar