New publications - April 2008

Occupational health and safety

Health and safety in nail bars

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr627.htm

PDF [248kb]

Health and Safety Laboratory and Health and Safety Executive

RR627

Published 21/04/2008

Nail bars are a rapidly expanding small business sector. This project addressed Local Authority enforcement officers’ concerns about the potential health risks involved with nail treatments and identified areas where further research is needed.

71 nail technicians answered a researcher-administered, self-reported occupational health questionnaire. Their data were compared with that from 64 control subjects.

Nearly all the nail technicians interviewed had received training on nail work that included some aspects of health and safety.

Compared with the control group, the nail technicians reported a statistically significant, increased prevalence of work-related symptoms, including nasal, neck, shoulder, wrist/hand and lower back problems.

Compared with the control group, the nail technicians reported elevated levels of work-related lower respiratory symptoms, headaches, upper back and leg and foot problems. These were not statistically significant.

Very few of the nail technicians interviewed used products containing methyl methacrylate (MMA) and over half were aware of advice or information discouraging the use of acrylic nail products containing MMA. Over a quarter of the nail technicians did not know whether the products they used contained ethyl methacrylate (EMA) or MMA.

Noise

Noise emission from fastener driving tools

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr625.htm

PDF [692kb]

E, Shanks, Health and Safety Laboratory and Health and Safety Executive

RR625

Published 30/04/2008

The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 as amended place duties on machine manufacturers and suppliers to design and construct machinery in such a way that noise emissions are reduced to the lowest level taking account of technical progress and the availability of techniques for reducing noise, particularly at source. There is also a requirement that manufacturers and suppliers provide information on the airborne noise emissions of their products. The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, which came into force in April 2006 implementing the EU Physical Agents (Noise) Directive (2003/10/EC), state that employers may use manufacturers’ tool data to assess the risk to their employees from exposure to noise.

The aims of the work reported here were to:

• Measure the noise emission of the tools supplied by the manufacturers and compare to the manufacturers’ declared emission, if stated
• Determine whether tools with a declared noise emission have been tested in accordance with the most appropriate test code
• Comment on the suitability of the noise test methods for the family of tools under test
• Investigate the link between the manufacturers’ declared emission and the in real use emission

Hairdressing

Occupational asthma, respiratory issues and dermatitis in hairdressers and nail bars

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr623.htm

PDF [294kb]

J, Harris-Roberts, J, Bowen, J, Foxlow, J, Summer of Health and Safety Laboratory and Health and Safety Executive

RR623

Published 21/04/2008

Workers in hairdressers, beauty salons and nail bars are at potential risk of developing skin and respiratory ill health conditions if good working practices and effective exposure control methods are not applied.

This inspection initiative in London focussed on HSE’s priorities for preventing dermatitis and asthma caused or made worse by work.

Between October 2006 and April 2007, Local Authority Environmental Health Practitioners inspected 205 hairdressing and nail salons and returned the inspection checklists to HSL for analysis.

• Inspectors believed the health risks associated with the use of hair and nail products were generally understood by senior staff. Employees had been made aware of these risks and took suitable precautions to protect themselves. Approximately two fifths of the salons understood COSHH assessments, kept a list of products that they used and recorded which of these products were potentially hazardous to health.
• Protective gloves were used widely but only half of the salons provided instructions or guidance on how to remove gloves correctly. Over three quarters of the gloves that were provided for staff were latex. It is not known if these were low protein, powder-free.
• Ventilated/downdraught tables were not widely used. Dust masks are not a recommended control method, yet employees in half of the nail bars that were inspected used them.
• Recommendations and further scientific and technical support activities
• Further support activity should be to undertake re-visits, to ascertain whether the correct controls have since been put in place as a result of this inspection initiative and other awareness raising initiatives. In particular these activities could focus on glove use and the use of effective controls for dust, odour and fumes.
• Further initiatives should be directed at this industry to improve knowledge and implementation of COSHH and to ensure risk assessment and application of controls is carried out more systematically.
• Following from these recommendations, there is a proposal for coordinated further interventions in this industry in London in 2008-2009.

Manufacturing industry

Review of targeted initiatives in the manufacturing sector

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr620.pdf

PDF [5mb]

Greenstreet Berman Limited and Health and Safety Executive

RR620

Published 25/04/2008

A number of manufacturing sectors have been operating voluntary ‘targeted initiatives’ whereby a trade association, often with trade union involvement, sets health and safety targets and supports their achievement against a background of HSE prompting and involvement. This review of eleven initiatives found mixed outcomes, with five successful initiatives associated with significant reductions in injury rates and positive subjective feedback. Four other initiatives were either too young or too small scale to provide clear results and the remaining two did not appear to have made progress. A HSE ‘policy model’ is provided to inform future engagement and support of targeted initiatives, along with suggestions on further development of good practice in respect of targeted initiatives.

Respiratory protection

Evaluating the protection afforded by surgical masks against influenza bioaerosols

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr619.pdf

PDF [778kb]

Health Improvement and Human Factors Groups, Health and Safety Laboratory and Health and Safety Executive

The UK is preparing for a potential influenza pandemic. The main route of transmission of influenza is believed to be via direct contact with large droplets. The relative importance of aerosols in transmission is considered to be minor, but it cannot be ruled-out. The current UK Pandemic Influenza Infection Control Guidance recommends that workers who are in close contact with patients should wear surgical masks to reduce exposure to large droplets. However, surgical masks are not intended to provide protection against infectious aerosols. The guidance recommends that procedures that are likely to generate aerosols should be minimised, or where unavoidable, workers should wear appropriate respiratory protection. There is a common misperception amongst workers and employers that surgical masks will protect against aerosols. This study aims to evaluate the relative levels of protection provided by both surgical masks and respirators against aerosols.

This study focussed on the effectiveness of surgical masks against a range of airborne particles. Using separate tests to measure levels of inert particles and live aerosolised influenza virus, our findings show that surgical masks provide around a 6-fold reduction in exposure. Live viruses could be detected in the air behind all surgical masks tested. By contrast, properly fitted respirators could provide at least a 100-fold reduction.

Gas dispersion

Extension of the dense gas dispersion model DRIFT to include buoyant lift-off and buoyant rise

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr629.pdf

PDF [516kb]

ESR Technology Ltd and Health and Safety Executive

RR629

Published 30/04/2008

This report concerns the initial specification of equations extending the dense gas dispersion model DRIFT to include buoyant lift-off and rise. The lift-off modelling is based on that for a free buoyant cloud. ‘Added mass’ terms are included in the model’s vertical momentum equation since they offer the prospect of suppressing lift-off for wide clouds. The elevated continuous plume model is chosen to be similar to other published elevated plume models (eg Ott [Risø Report Risø-R-1293EN, Oct 2001], Tickle et al. [AEA Technology Report AEAT/NOIL/27328006/001(R) Issue 2, June 2001]. The elevated instantaneous model is based on the puff model of Turner [J. Fluid Mech. 19, 1964, pp481-491]. The proposed model smoothly evolves between grounded and elevated phases. Passive spreading of the elevated cloud is based on a relative diffusion model [Risø Report Risø-R-1293EN, Oct 2001]. DRIFT’s atmospheric profiles have been extended to above the surface layer and to include profiles of temperature and humidity.