Victim of welding fumes honoured for campaign work

A former welder who contracted a respiratory disease as a result of his work has been made the first honorary fellow of the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers (ILEVE).

Phil Hydes received the award at the ILEVE’s Local-Exhaust Ventilation Day, which was held at Beedles Lake Golf club in East Goscote, near Leicester last month. The award was made in recognition of Mr Hydes’ contribution to raising awareness about the dangers of breathing contaminated air at work.

He worked as a plater welder for more than 20 years, but had to stop when he developed a severe lung disease from breathing in fumes during stainless-steel welding. He recorded a personal testimony video for the HSE about how he contracted the disease, which has been used at events and training days to raise awareness about the importance of controlling hazardous airborne contaminants.

The ILEVE event was attended by more than 100 delegates, who came from a wide range of industries that have a special interest in the control of airborne contaminants in the workplace. ILEVE chair Wally Gilder commented: “For a first information day, I am very pleased with the attendance and this bodes well for the further planned events. 

“The Institute was formed to bring about a significant reduction in the deaths and ill heath caused by poor air quality in the workplace. The aim is to educate all those at risk by training and recognising local-exhaust ventilation engineers and for users of equipment and services to look for members of the Institute in order to be assured of meeting acceptable standards.”

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

Listen now!