Health and Safety Executive
CHASAC C/o Health and Safety Executive Kingsley Dunham Centre Nicker Hill Keyworth Nottingham NG12 5GG
Dear HSE Foundry Inspection Programme – Follow-up The Health and Safety Executive has begun the second year of its Foundry Inspection Programme with visits starting in July 2023, that will run through to the end of December 2023. The focus of these inspection visits is to ensure that exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and other harmful substances is being adequately controlled by companies in the UK foundry sector. This RCS inspection initiative is supported by the HSE Dust Kills communications campaign: Silica Dust – Work right to keep Britain safe (https://workright.campaign.gov.uk/campaigns/silica/) The results of last year’s programme of visits have been analysed and revealed twelve key areas where the foundries inspected were not complying with the law and were putting at risk the health and safety of their workers. Key Improvements Required in UK Foundries 1. Provision of adequate Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) on furnaces to extract fume at source 2. Not wearing the correct PPE for working with molten metal 3. Provision and use of Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) when pouring molten metal 4. Provision and use of LEV and RPE in mould making and use of compressed air to finish moulds 5. Minimisation of release of RCS when filling mould boxes 6. Provision of LEV and RPE for fettling operations 7. Ensuring adequate RPE programmes to select the correct RPE, maintain and store it properly and ensure its correct use - face fitting, workers being clean shaven and filters changed 8. Provision of adequate COSHH sampling and monitoring to show that harmful substances are being adequately controlled 9. Provision of adequate health surveillance for workers exposed to RCS and asthmagens to pick up problems early and prevent them getting worse. 10. Elimination of dry sweeping and use of compressed air for cleaning surfaces and machinery 11. Provision of adequate welfare facilities 12. Training for supervisors to ensure that they are competent to supervise hazardous tasks.
The problems found during these visits resulted in enforcement action being taken by the HSE against the foundries involved. As well as foundry specific problems the inspections also enforced on machinery guarding, vehicle and pedestrian safety and other health and safety issues. These are the main activities inspectors will be assessing during the current visits. Are you ready for an inspection visit? If you are not confident that you are already complying with the law, there is foundry specific guidance available on the HSE website: www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/essentials/direct-advice/foundry.htm Help with identifying the right control measures to protect workers is available on the COSHH essentials web tool. Control information for dust and fumes in foundries is contained in a number of COSHH essentials guidance sheets. (https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/fdseries.htm) Health surveillance is an essential part of occupational health and ensuring that the work environment does not impact on the health of your workers. In the foundry environment there are health risks from noise, vibration and hazardous substances like RCS and asthmagens that can have a debilitating effect on the health of workers. Health surveillance is designed to pick up these problems. Health Surveillance: ▪ ▪ ▪
provides feedback about actions you may need to take to prevent further harm and protect workers allows workers to raise concerns about how work affects their health provides the opportunity to reinforce workers’ training and education
The HSE website gives advice on setting up a health surveillance programme Health surveillance Overview (hse.gov.uk) (https://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/overview.htm) There is specific guidance available on health surveillance for exposure to RCS at HSE G404 (https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/g404.pdf) There is also help and advice available from organisations outside the HSE: Cast Metals Federation | The Best in British Casting (www.castmetalsfederation.com/) Home - Shift Initiative (shift-initiative.org.uk) (https://shift-initiative.org.uk/) Home - British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) (www.bohs.org) Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers (ILEVE) – (https://www.cibse.org/institute-of-localexhaust-ventilation-engineers) Please take the opportunity to review your current position on these twelve Key Improvements. Yours faithfully,
Martin Giles HM Inspector of Health and Safety Metals, Minerals and Engineering Sector | Engagement and Policy Division (EPD) CHASAC Committee Chairman
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CHASAC (the Casting Health and Safety Advisory Committee) is the strategic health and safety delivery partnership for the casting and foundry industry and aims to improve the health and safety performance of the industry. CHASAC is made up of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), trades unions, trade associations and company representatives from all sectors of the foundry industry. The work of the committee is to identify health and safety issues of relevance to the industry and promote health and safety strategies that will lead to best practice being adopted.
If you would like to learn more about the activities of CHASAC and the HSE, along with how membership of the SHIFT safety initiative may help your business with regards to meeting your obligations for protecting the safety and occupational health of your employees, please contact the Cast Metals Federation, who are the current secretariat for CHASAC in rotation, by emailing CHASAC@cmfed.co.uk
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