...general ventilation does not achieve the necessary control of welding fumes.
HSE Safety Alert STSU1 – 2019
The UK’s HSE (Health and Safety Executive) has recently released a safety alert (Feb 2019) which highlights a change in enforcement expectations for all workers, employers, self-employed, contractors’ and any others who undertake welding activities.
HSE will now look to ensure all welding activities have effective engineering fume controls (such as local exhaust ventilation LEV or at source fume extraction), or if not adequate on its own, respiratory protective equipment is also provided.
The safety alert highlights new scientific evidence from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that has found exposure to mild steel welding fume can cause lung and kidney cancer.
The HSE believes now that "general ventilation does not achieve the necessary control of welding fumes" and as a result of the above findings, HSE will "no longer accept any welding undertaken without any suitable exposure control measures in place, as there is no known level of safe exposure (regardless of duration)".
Find out more about our Alfi/Plymoth fume extraction product range.
