Features
Left in the dust Silicosis, a classic occupational disease caused by exposure to stone dust, is making a deadly comeback. Hazards editor Rory O’Neill warns that while other national authorities have introduced more protective exposure standards and clamped down on the most dangerous exposures, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is just talking prevention. Hazards 168/169, double issue, 2025
Last gasp Wassam is dead at 28. Marek, confined to a hospital bed, knows he is destined to follow soon. A coroner has demanded that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) responds to a silica crisis which is killing UK workers faster and younger. But the regulator’s plan is to talk to the industry and refine its guidance. What will it take to finally get HSE to end the dust exposures that are turning lungs to stone? Hazards 167, Autumn 2024
Dust to dust They’re everywhere. Engineered stone kitchen countertops look good and cost less. But there’s a catch, says Hazards editor Rory O’Neill. The workers making them are being struck at frightening speed by lung-destroying silicosis. In parliament, the UK government insisted “nobody” has been harmed. But down the road, hospital lung specialists are telling a different story. Hazards 165, January-March 2024
Dust lies The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said there was neither the evidence nor the costings to justify tightening the exposure standard for lung-shredding silica dust. But Hazards editor Rory O’Neill reveals HSE has expunged key evidence from its website and has ‘no information’ on the total number of workers dying nor any intention to determine related costs for one of the most potent workplace killers. Hazards 161, January-March 2023
Biting the dust The Health and Safety Executive maintains its silica dust standard is just fine. Hazards editor Rory O’Neill spoke to former stonemason David Wood, who at 64 can’t work and struggles for breath. He, like hundreds of others who develop deadly silica-related diseases each year, are the undeniable proof HSE has got it dangerously wrong. Hazards 148, October-December 2019
Choked The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) admits its silica dust limit is deadly, but told Hazards there was no way to enforce a more protective exposure standard. Then the US acted. Then Australia. Hazards says HSE either made a fatal error or just plain lied – and says HSE may need to be forced to put things right.
Hazards 147, July-September 2019
Stone dead Hundreds of stonemasons took to the streets of Pindwara on 1 May 2019, to protest at the deadly dust risks facing the workers building India’s temples. Hazards 146, April-June 2019
A line in the sand The Health and Safety Executive doesn't want a tighter exposure standard for crystalline silica, either in the UK or Europe. Hazards unpicks its flimsy – and dangerous – excuses.
Hazards 127, July-September 2014
Dust to dust Crystalline silica exposures kill over 1,000 workers a year in in the UK and leaves many more fighting for breath. But, unlike its US counterpart, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) thinks our deadly silica exposure standard is just fine. Hazards 126, April-June 2014
Fracking boom With massive reservoirs of oil and gas trapped in the rocks under our feet, the oil industry is eager to get fracking. But US evidence of chemical related deaths, soaring fatalities and over-exposure to deadly dust has raised seriously unhealthy questions. Hazards 126, April-June 2014
SILICA
ON THIS WEBPAGE
Features • News
HAZARDS WEBPAGES
Chemicals, dust and fumes
 SILICA ACTION! |
|||
| Don’t swallow HSE’s dust line. Send an e-postcard to HSE demanding it introduce a more protective UK silica exposure limit no higher than 0.05mg/m³ and with a phased move to 0.025mg/m³ |
|||
|
SILICA ACTION! |
|||
| Don’t swallow HSE’s dust line. Send an e-postcard to HSE demanding it introduce a more protective UK silica exposure limit no higher than 0.05mg/m³ and with a phased move to 0.025mg/m³ |
|||