Worker wellbeing was put at risk at a wood waste recycling centre due to excessive wood dust exposure, the Health and Safety Executive has found.
The inhalation of wood dust can lead to the development of conditions such as asthma and nasal cancer. With proper health and safety measure put into practice though, these illnesses are often preventable.
Softwood dust is known to be an asthmagen, which can bring about or worsen symptoms of asthma. Hardwood particles are known carcinogens, meaning that they can contribute towards the likelihood of developing cancer.
Health and Safety Executive guidelines state that workers exposed to dust should be operating under correct workplace procedures, as well as being issued with suitable protective equipment to ensure that the risks of working with such materials are minimal. Upon an HSE inspection at Esken Renewables in April 2022, this was proven not to be the case.
Esken Renewables Limited, a waste and recycling firm specialising in renewable waste-based biofuels, processes mixed wood waste at its facility in Middlesborough by mixing waste hardwood and softwood into biofuel.
Concerns were raised about wood dust spreading to the surrounding area. Following an HSE visit in April 2022, the inspector wrote to Esken Renewables with detailed evidence showing the extent of wood dust exposure to employees, in an attempt to allow the company to correct course and control the risks.
Esken Renewables Limited responded in detail, accepting that exposure to the surrounding area was largely the result of four part storms which took place in quick succession.
The HSE investigation, however, deemed that the control of wood dust was not of an adequate standard to protect employees carrying out their work on and around the site. The expected benchmark had not been met.
Wood dust safety failures
In conclusion, the company failed to create and execute processes and activities to minimise the emission, release and subsequently – the spread of wood dust from the site.
An example solution would have been local exhaust ventilation, enclosing machinery or implementing a system which uses vacuums for cleaning and maintenance, instead of compressed air.
Esken Renewables Limited, of Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty of breaching Regulation 7(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002, thus receiving a £160,000 and an order to pay £5,310.35 in costs at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on 23 May, 2024.
HSE inspector Matthew Dundas said:
“The expected standard is to control exposure to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.
“We hope this serves to raise industry awareness for the expectation of control of hazardous substances, namely wood dust, in the wood waste and recycling industry.”
HSE enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan brought the prosecution, with support from HSE paralegal officer Rebecca Forman.
Further reading
For some further information about respiratory disease claims, check out this page.
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