The emissions – microscopic soot particulate matter (PM2.5) – are a risk to employees and form the basis of IOSH’s ‘no time to lose’ campaign to tackle causes of occupational cancer.
The institution called on politicans to support its campaign as more than 650 people die every year from lung or bladder cancer linked to exposure to diesel exhaust fumes in the workplace. Around 800 new cases of cancer caused by such exposure are registered every year, it said.
Shelley Frost, executive director – policy at IOSH, said: “While the air quality plan’s proposals to tackle nitrogen dioxide exposure and encourage transport modernisation mark a step in the right direction, we’d like government and local authorities to help businesses take action now.
“Many employees work in close proximity to sources of diesel exhaust fumes, and IOSH has highlighted risks from particulates. IOSH – through its No Time to Lose campaign – offers free resources that can help. By supporting the campaign, the UK government can help us spread the message.
“Some businesses, such as MTS Cleansing, have already shown leadership in cutting diesel emissions. Government departments and councils could and should follow this lead.”
Waste management company, MTS Cleansing Services, identified diesel fumes exposure as a health risk in the workplace and signed up to the campaign. It has since putting in a range of initiatives to reduce exposure.
Keith Hole, head of health and safety at MTS, said: “We have reduced the risk to all our staff and customers from exposure to diesel fumes through focused modernisation of our fleet, locating vehicles proactively to reduce emissions, making upgrades to the ventilation in the workshops, and by using the No Time to Lose campaign’s diesel pack to raise awareness among our staff.
“MTS has a large fleet of vehicles that will be affected by the Air Quality Plan announcement, and we are keen to further understand the detail.
“We are always looking at the best available technology to further reduce emissions and aim to be early adopters through integration with our fleet replacement policy.
“We signed up to No Time to Lose because we care about the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff. It’s the right thing to do, and ultimately it makes us more efficient as a business.”
IOSH is also supporting research into employee exposure to diesel fumes by funding DeMIST, a project run by King’s College London’s Exposure Science Team. It will investigate the factors of exposure and collate information on vehicle specification and driving style, to provide insights into potential low cost mitigation strategies.
This will be achieved through objectives delivered in four phases:
The last part will focus on strategies that can be applied to the existing vehicle fleet or working practices.
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
Once again, diesel emissions are toxic but they’ve become the only target in the current discussion. There are loads of other airborne particles, as toxic, and all over the workplaces causing the cancer. Schools / classrooms and the health & safety of the teaching staff and children are very much ignored. We need to widen the discussion and also action!