Flour Dust (asthma)

Aim

Our aim is to reduce the incidence of occupational asthma with the baking industry and other workplaces where flour is used, to raise awareness of the disease, promote use of appropriate practical control measures and take enforcement action where appropriate.

Justification

The reported incidence of occupational asthma among bakers and flour confectioners is 95/100,000, the highest of any occupation in any industry.

Furthermore, research has shown that occupational exposure levels for flour dust in bakeries have remained stubbornly high and not shown the downward trend found for harmful dusts in other industries since the mid 1980s.

Audience/industry

The baking industry and other workplaces where flour is used (eg supermarkets, retail and craft bakeries, pizza restaurants where dough is made on the premises etc).

Key messages

Occupational asthma is a serious disease but it is preventable and, in some cases if diagnosed in time, can be reversible. 

There are a number of simple steps that can be taken to control flour dust such as working carefully to avoid raising dust, using wet cleaning or industrial vacuum cleaners to clear up, and carrying out health surveillance.

Activities required

1. Following on from the Disease Reduction Programme inspection Initiatives in bakeries in 2006/07 and 2007/08, inspectors visiting bakeries during 2008/09 are encouraged to assess the control of exposure to flour dust.
2. Encourage the use of the supermarket bakery benchmark control standard, developed with supermarkets and LACoRs, during inspections of those supermarket bakeries which bake from scratch - Asda, Tesco (both of whom are participating in LOPP), Morrisons and Sainsbury's (both LAPS companies).

Timing

All year.

For further information

• 2008-09 SIM on Flour Dust in Bakeries
• Supermarket bakery benchmark control standard
• Flour dust training presentation [1.74MB]
• www.hse.gov.uk/asthma
• HSE's Disease Reduction Programme (DRP)

Detailed guidance on asthma is available on:

• Asthmagens topic pack [125KB]
• Topic inspection pack for craft bakeries [155KB]
• Guidance on the selection of vacuum cleaners for low combustibility organic granules and dusts, including flour

Contact

drp@hse.gsi.gov.uk