14.00 Developments in occupational hygiene and air quality.pdf

1. Mary Cameron BSc LFOH CertOH
Senior Occupational Hygienist at
Hygiene Partners
BOHS Board Member

3. Who are we?
• The leading authority in worker health protection, celebrating 70 years of being
one of the world’s leading scientific bodies on the identification, control and
prevention of workplace ill-health.
• A science-based, charitable body that provides information, expertise and
guidance in the recognition, control and management of workplace health risks.
• Founded in 1953. It is the only professional society representing qualified
occupational hygienists in the UK and has over 1,400 members in 45 countries.
• The Royal Charter means that BOHS is the only occupational hygiene organisation
to offer the opportunity to achieve ‘Chartered Occupational Hygiene’ status
through its professional development route.
• Home to the professional body for all practitioners who work within a discipline of
occupational hygiene (FOH)
• Home to the professional body for asbestos assessment and management (FAAM)

4. Our Mission
• To safeguard the UK’s current and future health through the effective
management of the workplace environment.
Our Vision
• A country where work is not a cause of acute or chronic ill-health.

5. Our Aims
• Work to eliminate harmful exposures;
• Promote safe and effective substitutes for existing hazards;
• Design out threats to human health;
• Manage out work practices that place people at risk;
• Ensure all people in all working environments have the right
protection at the right time.

6. What we do
• Conferences & Events: running of scientific conferences and events

7. What we do
• Publishing: of an academic journal and other scientific
information
• Policy and Technical: scientific and technical
representation to government, regulators and other bodies

8. What we do

9. What we do
• Campaigns: leadership of industry awareness campaigns
-Breathe Freely in Construction and Breathe Freely in Manufacturing
https://breathefreely.org.uk
… also now in Canada, the US and is being developed in Ireland.

10. What is Occupational Hygiene?
• Occupational Hygiene is the science of worker health protection. It focuses on
prevention and aims to protect people and keeping them healthy and safe at work.
• Through science and engineering, occupational hygienists identify, assess and control
the risk from any health hazards that are in, or arise from, the workplace and lead to
serious health diseases. These hazards include chemicals, dust, fumes, noise, vibration
and extreme temperatures.
• Occupational hygienists aim to increase understanding of health risks in the working
environment and advise on appropriate and practical control strategies to protect
workers from serious illnesses like cancer, asthma, skin diseases and hearing loss.

13. Encouraging Healthy Lifestyle Preventing Exposure to Risk Monitoring Effectiveness

16. Thorough Examination and Testing of
Local Exhaust Ventilation Systems P601
Basic Design Principles of Local Exhaust
Ventilation Systems P602
Control of Hazardous Substances –
Personal Protective Equipment P603
Performance Evaluation, Commissioning
and Management of Local Exhaust
Ventilation Systems P604

17. ILEVE exists to recognise competence in the practical application of
local exhaust ventilation and to raise awareness of the
importance of good air quality and ventilation in workplaces.

23. Developments in occupational hygiene and air quality
• BOHS are working with non-technical organisations and HSE to make it
easier for people to improve air quality in the workplace
• Easy-access tools such as the ventilation tool BOHS and HSE develop
free ventilation tool to help limit the transmission of Covid-19 in
workplaces - British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) or the RCN
RPE selector are examples
• This builds on public access tools, such as the welding fume simulator
tool which assists in selecting choices which are less harmful for
welders Welcome to the Breathe Freely Welding Fume Control Selector
Tool

24. Developments in occupational hygiene and air quality (cont’d)
• We are currently updating advice on the effectiveness and use of real
time monitors, as well as a significant piece of work on the control of
metal working fluids. This will be freely available on our website.
• BOHS members are the only professionals outside of HSE licensed to
use the main method for detecting isocyanates. We are embarking on
research to further understand impact and controls.
• FAAM continues to work on more effective ways to control and
identify asbestos, in particular exposure reduction methods in the
removal of this toxic substance.

25. Developments in occupational hygiene and air quality (cont’d)
• BOHS advises the All Party Parliamentary Group on respiratory health,
which continues to focus attention on silica exposure.
• We have recently launched significant policy reports on workplace health
exposure in Wales and Scotland at their respective Parliaments and will
be releasing a UK report in December
• Our recent research into the impact of workplace health exposures on
women is one which has caused a significant stir and is accompanied by a
free to access Annals special issue.
• We are working on a guidance document for diesel engine exhaust
emissions to guide occ hygienists on monitoring and assessment strategy

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