26/09/2024
During the British Woodworking Federation’s Fire Door Safety Week 2024 campaign Kirk Smith, of BWF Fire Door Alliance Member Allegion UK, reviews the attitudes towards passive fire ...
The Wood Safety Group (WSG) consists of representatives from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), trade associations and other bodies from within the woodworking and joinery industry.
Wood dust is a substance that is considered hazardous to health and as such exposure to wood dust falls under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2022 (COSHH). Adequate control of wood dust can be achieved when the eight principles of good control practice (listed below) are met, or other equally effective measures are employed to ensure exposure is being controlled to levels that are as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).
Although the health effects from exposure to hardwood, softwood and composite woods are different, and the specific Workplace Exposure Limits (WELs) are different, the measures required to adequately control exposure do not differ by the type of wood being machined.
Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) is the main control to ensure that wood dust is controlled at the source on woodworking machines. LEV must be installed and be sufficient for the machines and operations being carried out. This LEV must be thoroughly tested at least every 14 months to ensure it is working efficiently and it must be regularly maintained.
On certain machines, LEV alone will not control the residual dust produced from the machining operations. On the machines listed below, users are required to wear Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) in addition to the LEV. Any RPE should have a minimum Assigned Protection Factor (APF) of 20. For example, a class 3 Filtering Facepiece (FFP3) will have an APF of 20.
Users on the machines listed above must wear RPE in addition to the normal use of effective extraction. This RPE must be of the correct type (FFP3) and users must undergo Face Fit Testing to ensure the RPE is fitting correctly. The use of RPE does not replace the need for efficient LEV systems. However, as each operation is different, employers will need to risk assess the machine and operation to determine the correct action. For example, if only one piece of wood is to be cut on a cross cut saw it would probably be impractical to wear RPE as this would be a single, infrequent operation.
There are other operations that can require the wearing of RPE (minimum APF of 20 e.g. FFP3) for example,
To clear surfaces of wood dust and debris a dust class M or H-type vacuum cleaner, or a suction hose attached to the LEV, should be used. Dry sweeping or using compressed air are not acceptable methods for the collection or clearing of wood dust. Larger wood chips or offcuts can be shovelled or alternatively, vacuum cleaners or an LEV attachments can be used if they are fitted with a pre-filter or mesh to prevent blockages.
Your trade association may be able to provide you with additional advice or answer any questions you might have relating to the above information.
For information on the principles of good control practice visit
https://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/detail/goodpractice.htm
For additional information on Face Fit Testing, please visit
https://www.hse.gov.uk/respiratory-protective-equipment/fit-testing-basics.htm
For further information on COSHH for the woodworking industry visit
https://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/essentials/direct-advice/woodworking.htm
Visit the HSE website where there are additional resources that are free to download and use.
