Deaths from mesothelioma continue to increase in Great Britain. Statistics HSE

Deaths from mesothelioma continue to increase in Great Britain. Deaths occurring now are a legacy of past exposures to asbestos when it was widely used particularly for insulating buildings.

The latest information shows:

• The number of mesothelioma deaths has increased from 153 in 1968 to 2 321 in 2009. Over 80% of deaths were among men. (Mesothelioma register).
• Men who worked in the building industry when asbestos was still being used widely are now among those most at risk of mesothelioma.
• Most deaths among women are likely to be due to a range of non-occupational asbestos exposures.
• The worst case predictions for males are that annual deaths will increase to a peak of about 2 100 in about the year 2016.
• Female deaths are likely to peak after this but at a much lower level.

Mesothelioma deaths and disablement benefit cases 1982-2010

information HSE

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UK - Occupational exposure limits for hazardous substances at work

A free-to-download, web-friendly version of EH40 (Second edition, published 2011) has been updated to include new and revised workplace exposure limits (WELS) introduced by the 2nd and 3rd Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Values (IOELV) Directives.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/eh40.pdf

Estudio sobre control de exposición a humos de soldadura (HSE)

Visualisation and control of solder fume exposure - A quantitative assessment of LEV effectiveness


Colophony or Rosin Based Solder Flux Fume is a known cause of occupational asthma and as such exposure to it should be controlled. An effective method of engineering exposure control is to use local exhaust ventilation (LEV) to extract the fume at source. Personal exposure to solder fume was quantitatively measured in the breathing zone of a manikin, these exposures were then compared to those caused by uncontrolled soldering in order to assess five different LEV systems. The five LEV systems tested were a downdraught bench; an extracted bench top enclosure, a mobile capturing hood, an on-tip extraction system and a bench top fume absorber.
It was found that even a moderate amount of soldering when uncontrolled caused exposures over 50 times greater than the 8-hour Workplace Exposure Limit of 0.05 mgm-3 and over 30 times greater than the 15-minute Short Term Exposure Limit of 0.15 mgm-3. It was found that all five LEV systems were capable of reducing exposure to zero if used correctly. Each system had distinct advantages and disadvantages that make their use more or less suitable in various situations.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.

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