NEW SAFETY GUIDANCE FOR WORKING WITH METALWORKING FLUIDS

15 Oct 2002 01:45 PM

Major new guidance on good practice standards for reducing health risks to workers exposed to metalworking fluids (MWFs) was launched today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The main health concern associated with metalworking fluids is dermatitis, with around 200 cases reported each year, related to exposure to cutting oils and coolants. There is also an association between exposure to these fluids and respiratory effects, including bronchitis and asthma.

HSE's Midlands Regional Director, Linda Williams launched the new guidance packs at the first of a series of seminars being organised by HSE and the Engineering Employers' Federation.

This new good practice guidance shows, through case studies and good practice, the steps needed to achieve control, and also demonstrates that failings that result in increased worker exposure may also be reducing business profitability. The package of guidance will help the engineering sector to improve standards of control, thereby reducing the cases of work-related ill health and the number of working days lost.

The new guidance follows studies showing current practice in control of MWF exposures in 31 engineering companies that show some cause for concern. Many of the companies visited were found to have poor control of fluid strength, poor sump replenishment methods, and poor control of swarf, fines and tramp oil. Failing to manage sump fluid conditions can not only affect the quality of the machined work piece and tool life, but also increase the risk of ill health, through increased bacteria and so on.

The guidance pack includes task sheets for operators and a guidance value for airborne neat oil and water-mix MWF mist levels and sump fluid contaminants, such as bacteria. There will also be a poster, monitoring charts and much more aimed at making this a user-friendly package of guidance.

It has been developed with the help of industry trade bodies who represent the fluid and machine suppliers, the relevant trade union, employers' representatives, and Envirowise, a government programme that provides practical environmental advice for business.

The organisations which helped develop and who endorse this good practice guidance are:

Amicus - Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union

British Lubricant Federation Metalworking Fluid Product Stewardship Group

Engineering Employers Federation

Envirowise

Institute of Petroleum

Machine Tool Technologies Association

Each of the seminars will have presentations from the above organisations, covering the importance of fluid management and current good working practices. There will also be updates on new fluid and machining developments. At each seminar, a local business will present their story of how they are effectively managing these fluids and the associated benefits. The dates of the events are:

Birmingham 15 October
Barleythorpe (Nr Leicester) 16 October
Sheffield 17 October
Glasgow 23 October
Cardiff 24 October
Leeds 30 October
Washington (Nr Newcastle) 31 October
Newmarket 5 November
London 6 November
Belfast 12 November Manchester 14 November

Notes to Editors

1. Copies of Working safely with metalworking fluids pack, ISBN 0 7176 2561 3, price £17.50 are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA Tel: 01787 881165; Fax: 01787 313995,

2. For booking details please contact Abigail Clow, Event Co-ordinator, EEF, Broadway House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9BR / fax 020 7976 8056 / email: aclow@eef-fed.org.uk

3. The Health and Safety Commission's (HSC's) Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances (ACTS) has concluded that health-based occupational exposure limits cannot be derived for mineral oil or water-mix metalworking fluids. It has also recommended that the mineral oil mist Occupational Exposure Standard (OES) should no longer apply to metalworking fluids. The HSC is consulting on proposals taking into account of the advice from ACTS. If after consultation HSC agrees to remove metalworking fluids from scope of the OES, there would be a need for a new source of standards for control; the proposed guidance would meet that need. If the HSC decides that the mineral oil mist OES should no longer apply to metalworking fluids, then this change will appear in HSE's publication EH40/2003 Occupational Exposure Limits.

4. The current occupational exposure limit for mineral oil mist comprises (OESs) of 5mgm-3 (8-h time-weighted average, and 10 mg m-3 (short-term limit,15-min reference period. However ACTS concluded at its March 2000 meeting that this OES should no longer apply to mineral oil metalworking fluids, given the potential for substantial variability in their composition and for contamination during industrial use. The Committee also felt that it was not possible to derive revised OES values for mineral oil metalworking fluids due to the absence of evidence for a level of inhalation exposure that would not cause any health effects that would be applicable to all possible compositions of such fluids. (ACTS recommended, though, that the OESs should remain in place for some other - non-metalworking - applications of mineral oil.) The Committee concluded that no occupational exposure limit could be derived for water-mix metalworking fluids, for the same reasons.

5. The HSE study in the late 1990s, carried out in conjunction with the Health and Safety Laboratory, used new air-sampling techniques to measure workers' exposure to mineral oil and water-mix metalworking fluid mist. Information was also collected on the fluids and processes used, and on control procedures, in order to ascertain current practice in controlling exposure. In addition, fluid samples were taken from machine sumps to measure for bacteriological content, endotoxins, fines levels and other contaminants.

6. The main health concern associated with metalworking fluids is dermatitis, with around 200 cases of contact dermatitis a year - related to exposure to cutting oils and coolants - reported to EPIDERM (a scheme in which dermatologists report cases of occupational skin disorders). The true number of cases is almost certainly higher, however. There is also an association between exposure to these fluids and respiratory effects, including bronchitis and asthma.

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