Danger Dust

A dust extraction specialist has launched a campaign to highlight the dangers of dust inhalation – as it calculates that common construction jobs such as drilling and floor grinding can see individuals ingest the equivalent of more than a pint of dust across the course of a 40 year career.

With respirable crystalline silica a major cause of silicosis – a chronic lung condition that kills up to 1,000 people a year in the UK – Dustcontrol UK has launched a campaign to underline just how big a risk common construction jobs can pose to workers’ health.

The ‘Dust to dust’ campaign highlights that, by failing to take the right precautions, workers run the risk of inhaling a level of respirable dust that can prove fatal. And to help those working in construction visualise the dangers, the firm has calculated the amount of dust that can potentially be ingested in a lifetime to be the equivalent of 1.28 imperial pints of respirable dust or 0.68 imperial pints of respirable crystalline silica specifically.