HSE Safety Alert – Change in Enforcement Expectations for Mild Steel Welding Fume
There is new scientific evidence from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that exposure to mild steel welding fume can cause lung cancer and possibly kidney cancer in humans.
With immediate effect, there is a strengthening of HSE’s enforcement expectation for all welding fume, including mild steel welding; because general ventilation does not achieve the necessary control.
All businesses undertaking welding activities should ensure effective engineering controls are provided and correctly used to control fume arising from those welding activities. Regardless of duration, HSE will no longer accept any welding undertaken without any suitable exposure control measures in place, as there is no known level of safe exposure.
Where engineering controls are not adequate to control all fume exposure, adequate and suitable respiratory protective equipment (RPE) is also required to control risk from the residual fume.
For more information about the changes, click here >
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Source: HSE
