Stone Equipment International has had a nice mention in the Italian multilingual magazine Marmo Macchine International, which has carried a report of how the UK agent for Marmo Meccanica edge polishers helped a company taking part in TV programme DIY SOS complete its task.

Stone Equipment International started this year by concentrating on selling Marmo Meccanica machines in the UK (read more about that here), so an international endorsement from satisfied customers is a welcome intervention.

Andrew and Katie Moxon, owners of Phoenix Worktops in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, related the story of how they offered their services to DIY SOS for the Children in Need Big Build.

They take up the story: “We were huge fans of the show so when the opportunity arose we jumped at the chance to make a difference.

“It was quite a long build up to the show and we had to keep everything secret, not even telling friends, family or employees we were taking part until the very last minute.

“However, two weeks before we were due to take part our old 2006 Marmo Meccanica LCV 611 edge polisher died a terrible death. It was one we’d purchased years second hand years before when we first started out as a business. It has been a loyal workhorse but, unfortunately, it was old, well used and obsolete, so we could not find replacement parts.

“It was game over for the machines. We’d purchased our first second-hand bridge saw from from Andy Bell at Stone Equipment International a few years earlier and found him to be helpful and reliable and the machines to be of high quality. Straight away we got in touch with him. Of course, we had to let him into our DIY SOS secret!

“We knew we wanted another Marmo Meccanica edge polisher but as we had grown as a business since we purchased our original second-hand edge polisher, we wanted to go brand new this time. We also wanted to go horizontal as we had done a run of very large islands and had one of the biggest ever booked in for after DIY SOS at 2.9m x 1.9m.

“Andy Bell was amazing!I explained we were signed up to take part in the Children in Need DIY SOS Big Build; that we would have 24 hours from template to fit to turn around the worktops, a large island, bathroom vanity and three cistern tops.

“There was no way we could do this without an edge polisher.

“Straight away Andy jumped into action. He reserved the last Marmo Meccanica LCH 711 he had in stock and within a day he had arranged delivery for the following week.

“He moved his engineers’ work around so the day after it was delivered it was fully installed and up and running.

“Between Andy Bell and Jane, who works in the office with him, the whole process was so smooth and stress free.

“Now down to the amazing machine. As mentioned, we had 24 hours to cut, polish, cnc and install all the quartz required for DIY SOS. The LCH 711 saved us. We literally turned the entire job around in 17 hours (with a four-hour nap). The pieces were coming off perfectly polished and bevelled – no need to hand polish at all. It was so quick and the finish was such high quality.

“Since DIY SOS the edge polisher has definitely become an integral part of our business. It has hugely cut our turnaround times; it has made the fabrication process run even smoother.

“The finished polish – even on the harder to polish black granite and quartz, is coming off perfect. We can’t recommend this machine enough. It’s a real game changer.

“For those other fabricators in the UK, we highly recommend Andy Bell and his team at Stone Equipment International.”

The latest figures from the Department for Education covering the 2021/2022 academic year show that apprenticeship starts fell by 13% compared with 2018/2019, with the number successfully completing their apprenticeships down 7%.

Covid no doubt played its part in that, but nevertheless the decrease in apprenticeship uptake and completion has added to the problem of businesses struggling to find skilled talent, while still apparently being reluctant to hire and grow their own.

Training workers could help close the skills gaps, but with the UK predicted to be heading into an economic recession and business costs having increased rapidly, organisations are less able to afford training, creating even more barriers to skills development and workforce entry.

You might think engaging with the Apprenticeship Levy, which subsidises the costs of training, could be a key solution to this problem, but a new survey has found that just 4% of levy-paying employers have used their full levy funding in the past five years, with 94% reporting at least one barrier to accessing it.

The results of the survey are presented in a report called Levying Up: Delivering Sustainable Skills from City & Guilds and the 5% Club.

The 5% Club was founded by Leo Quinn, CEO of Balfour Beatty, in October 2013 to address the issue of poverty arising from high youth unemployment and a shortage of the right skills for the workplaces of today and tomorrow. The 5% relates to the aim of members to have 5% of the workforce in 'earn and learn' positions within five years of joining the Club.

‘Earn and learn’ describes the routes into and within employment (including apprenticeships, sponsored students and graduates on formalised training schemes) that combine study with practical experience, enabling individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required to pursue their chosen occupation.

Levying Up: Delivering Sustainable Skills reports on the results of research among 1,000 human resources (HR) leaders at apprenticeship levy-paying businesses across the country.

It reviews the apprenticeship system and explores ways it could be adapted to meet the needs of employers more effectively, support industry skills requirements and provide opportunities for individuals involved.   

One of the ways it could be improved, it concludes, is to scrap the idea of reducing funding for Level 2 apprenticeships like the natural stone industry’s Trailblazer, which is something Michelle Turner, who Chairs the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG), has consistently called for. It was the NSITG which worked so hard to create the Stone Trailblazer.

The City & Guilds and 5% Club survey found that the apprenticeship levy is currently not working as many employers believe it should.

It shows that apprenticeship levy-paying employers are using an average of just 55.5% of available funds, with 94% reporting at least one barrier to accessing the funds available.   

18% of respondents stated that accessing levy funds involves too much bureaucracy and / or administration, with 17% saying they do not have enough time to invest and 19% saying they could not commit to the length of time an apprenticeship takes to complete.  

Most HR leaders did not want the levy scrapped, but 43% said they would prefer to shift towards a 50:50 model, whereby half the levy is ring fenced for apprenticeships and the other half is more flexible, allowing businesses to identify the best way to use the money to meet their skills needs. 

Levying Up: Delivering Sustainable Skills has the following recommendations: 

Introduce a broader skills levy with more flexibility on how employers can spend levy funding.

Cancel plans to reduce Level 2 apprenticeships. Reducing the number of Level 2 apprenticeships excludes a number of young people and people from less advantaged backgrounds from workplace training and opportunities to upskill. As many of these people are not ready for level 3 apprenticeships and not all companies offer level 3 roles as their entry point, if Level 2 apprenticeships were to be reduced, opportunities for these groups would be further restricted.  

Introduce modular learning options. Employers would benefit from standardised, levy-funded bitesize learning. An apprenticeship requires a significant commitment of time, both for the employer and the apprentice, which is not always practical. With a modular approach, leaders could pick and choose more compact qualifications and training to meet skills needs and employees could upskill more easily throughout their careers.  

Use unspent levy to address labour market shortages. Given the UK’s current labour market shortages, the Department for Education and HM Treasury could work together to ensure that unspent apprenticeship levy funding was spent on programmes designed to reduce skills shortages in the sectors that are most affected.  

You can download the 42-page Levying Up: Delivering Sustainable Skills report here or by clicking on the link below.

The Natural Stone Industry Training Group has been selected by City & Guilds to be part of a pilot for its Professional Recognition Award.

The pilot is free of charge to two candidates. NSITG Chair, Michelle Turner, will be mentor for the candidates.

The C&G Professional Recognition Awards offer the opportunity for professionals to gain an accredited award in leadership and management, providing a progression route from Level 4 to Level 7. 

Successful candidates are granted appropriate post-nominal letters: Licentiate (LCGI) at Level 7, Affiliate (AfCGI), Graduate (GCGI) and Member (MCGI) at Level 4.

Anyone interested in taking part in the pilot should contact NSITG Training Officer Claire Wallbridge on claire@nsitg.org.uk / Tel: 07511464346.

She says that as this is bound to be popular, she asks that interest is registered by Wednesday 8 February and places will be given on a first come first served basis.

For more about the Professional Recognition Awards on the City & Guilds website click here.

With MPs of the All Party Paliamentary Group (APPG) for Respiratory Health having published their up-dated report on silicosis this month calling for a return to silicosis being a reportable industrial disease (read more about that here), the timing could not have been better for the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) meeting concentrating on the control of dust, particularly respirable crystalline silica (RCS), on 23 January.

The meeting was held at the impressive premises of WFF member Granite Tops in Preston, Lancashire, where Brian Robertson and his team had put a lot of work into making the day such a success, including setting up a break-out room for a case-study from the company's specialist advisers who installed the Granite Tops at-station dust extraction system based on water-wash technology from the aerospace industry. Brian also scrambled his H&S consultant, Anjum Choudray, to provide roving free advice to the guests.

Another of the Parliamentary group’s recommendations to Parliament is that a feasibility study should be carried out by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) into halving the RCS Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) to 0.05mg/m3, which waves a warning flag over the worktop sector and was one of the reasons this was the WFF's best attended meeting yet (although a growing membership is another reason). 

If the WEL is halved, it raises fresh challenges for professional fabricators – challenges that WFF members were able to discuss with industry experts at their meeting in Preston.  

WFF General Secretary Chris Pateman says: "The sheer number of folks who travelled to Preston on a Monday morning says something about how seriously professional worktop fabricators take their responsibilities."

But the WFF is also concerned that halving the WEL opens up the whole question of how to legislate, and enforce legislation, for those who buy blanks and set up in their customers’ gardens with trestles, an angle-grinder and a pair of goggles.

As Chris Pateman says, it’s not clear from the APPG’s report that the MPs are even aware of this particular dynamic in the industry. He says that by its very nature this ‘spot exposure’ end of the market is almost impossible for HSE to monitor or police, and is another good reason for consumers, kitchen companies and designers to ensure the professionals of the WFF are making and fitting their worktops.

The MPs were also impressed by the Trolex Air XS real-time silica dust monitor launched last year, calling on the HSE to promote the idea of real-time dust monitoring with those who face exposure to it – and HSE says some 600,000 people in construction are exposed to RCS each year, making it second only to asbestos in terms of lung health risks in the industry.

Even before the British-made Trolex unit was launched, the WFF was given a preview of it from the manufacturer at one of the WFF meetings. At the January meeting members received an up-date from Simon Bradbury from Stone Industry Group (SiG), which is selling the machines to the stone industry. They are not cheap at about £10,000 each, but the WFF is exploring the idea of hiring units for the benefit of its members. Simon faced lots of people asking lots of questions in the light of the APPG report.

Natalie Tinsley, who leads on stone and glass dust for the HSE, brought the WFF members up to speed on the results of the HSE's dust enforcement campaign in the autumn and the HSE's subsequent actions on dust exposure. 

Lastly, and perhaps a little peripherally, Kate Walker from the Diabetes Safety Organisation (DSO) launched WFF-branded support materials for the ‘one less’ campaign to raise awareness if diabetes. This was a follow-on to the incredibly well-received presentation Kate delivered at the WFF meeting in Warrington in September.

Everyone’s heard of diabetes, and some of those at the meeting on Monday put their hands up to having it or having a relative who does. But it’s not widely understood. So it’s one of those subjects that is more interesting to more people than you might expect.  

The WFF interest in it initially came from the risks associated with somebody suddenly feinting while part of a four-man crew trying to carry a stone worktop up several flights of stairs. Since then, it seems to have developed something of a life of its own within WFF – another example of what comes out of best-practice sharing by people in the same trade.

All that and a curry for lunch (or an alternative for those who didn't want curry).

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has launched a survey of stonemasonry in Scotland to better understand the current status of the sector.

The survey seeks to gather information on the number of stonemasons there are in Scotland, where the businesses that employ stonemasons are based, and the need for stonemasonry skills across the country. 

The survey is the first in a series HES plans to carry out to examine stonemasonry in Scotland. It is an action arising out of the work of the Stonemasonry Training Working Group of sector partners and stakeholders, convened by HES.

The data gathered will be used as a first step to building understanding of how the stonemasonry sector looks across different parts of Scotland, and ensuring it is equipped to meet the challenges of the future.

The hope is the data can be used for better sector engagement and consultation, as ideas and proposals on the future of stonemasonry training are developed.

HES supports the delivery of stonemasonry skills training at its Skills Training Centres in Elgin and Stirling, in partnership with Forth Valley College.

Colin Tennant, Head of Technical Education and Training at HES, said: "With our built environment in Scotland predominantly made of stone, it is crucial we ensure a continuing supply of trained stonemasons to repair, maintain and conserve this heritage.

"Stonemasonry is also a sustainable traditional skill which supports both green jobs and a circular economy, which helps maximise our existing resources, crucial for our national net-zero ambitions.

"We want to ensure the sector can thrive into the future, which is why we’re launching this survey to gather information that will help us build a comprehensive picture of stonemasonry in Scotland.

"To help us do that, we would urge as many stonemasons and employers as possible to take part in the survey."

Scottish stone companies can complete the survey by clicking here.

 The survey closes on Tuesday 28 February.

Businesses should not see reducing carbon emissions as a cost but as an opportunity.

That just about sums up Mission Zero, the net zero review by former Energy Minister Chris Skidmore published on 13 January.

The review says the UK’s leadership on tackling climate change has delivered real change at home and led to a global transformation – but that more should be done to reap the economic benefits that presents.

Official statistics show there are already around 400,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains across the UK, with turnover estimated at £41.2billion in 2020. Both the British Energy Security Strategy and Build Back Greener: Net Zero Strategy aim to leverage an additional £100billion of private investment, and creating an additional 480,000 British jobs by 2030.

Mission Zero makes 129 recommendations, covering areas including the greater role that business can be supported to play, making better use of infrastructure, and delivering more energy efficient homes. They are all designed to maximise economic investment, opportunities and jobs while working towards achieving legally binding targets to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In the report Chris Skidmore urges ministers to grasp the ‘historic opportunity’, highlighting how the government’s Net Zero Strategy offers the right direction and the right policies to do so.

Chris Skidmore says: “We should be proud of the lead the UK has taken in tackling climate change, having exceeded expectations so far in our race to net zero emissions by 2050. As essential as that is environmentally, it also puts us at an economic advantage globally.

“We lead in areas including clean technologies, science, manufacturing and green finance – areas that, if managed right, can lead to new jobs and strong economic growth.

“In developing this report, we have engaged with communities, economists and climate experts from across the country through more than 50 roundtables and 1,800 submissions – all of which have led to the Mission Zero findings.

“My recommendations are designed to make the most of this historic opportunity, covering the length and breadth of our economy, so that people in every part of the country can reap the benefits of this both in their communities, and in their pockets.”

The proposals include:

•          backing business – by, for example, reviewing incentives for investment in decarbonisation through the tax system and launching a Help to Grow Green campaign offering information and advice to small businesses so they can plan ahead

•          backing local action – reforming the planning system to put net zero at its heart nationally and locally and backing at least one Trailblazer Net Zero City, local authority and community that can work towards reaching net zero by 2030

•          delivering energy efficient homes – including legislating for the Future Homes Standard so that no new homes will be built with a gas boiler from 2025 and adopting a 10-year mission to make heat pumps a widespread technology in the UK

•          using infrastructure to unlock net zero – developing a cross-sectoral infrastructure strategy by 2025 to support the building and adaptation of new green energy sources (notably hydrogen) to support the green economy.

You might also be interested to read the House of Commons Environmental Audit report on Costing Carbon in Construction and the Government's response to it.

CSCS Smart Check is an app that can be used to check CSCS cards on-site to make sure the operatives are who they say they are and have the qualifications you require for any particular job.

The app is free from the App Store and Google Play. It gives users a simple way of checking all CSCS partner scheme cards in one place as people enter a site.

Rather than separate apps, web portals and call centres for different CSCS cards, CSCS Smart Check means almost all* the 2.1million CSCS cards issued can be accessed on a phone.

The app has been developed by the 38 card schemes displaying the CSCS logo to radically improve the construction industry’s card checking procedures and site safety, while also helping tackle fraud and modern slavery in the sector.

Organisations and their on-site card checkers now have a quick, easy and secure way of ensuring everyone on site has the right qualifications and training for the job they do.

There are three ways to check a card using CSCS Smart Check: Contactless; using the QR codes on the cards; performing a manual check. The video below gives a brief demonstration of the app.

You can find the CSCS Smart Check app support page here on the CSCS website.

Answers to the most common queries around CSCS Smart Check can be found on the FAQs here. 

CSCS has also worked with Build UK to produce guidance that can be downloaded and used on site. Download it for free here.

*The following schemes will be going live on the app at a later date:

• IPAF. These cards cards can currently only be checked on the app using the Manual Input or QR code options.
• CSWIP. To check these cards call 01223 899 000
• LEEA. To check these cards, visit the LEEA website

Please note: This app is NOT for individuals to use to store details of their cards. That can be done using the MyCSCS app and MyECS.

Watch the video below for a quick overview of the app.

Gordon Somerville started working in construction at the age of 15 and spent his life as a builder and stonemason, eventually running his own masonry company. Today he is 61 and housebound, a victim of exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust.

The extent of the damage the dust had caused him became apparent in 2014, when he collapsed on the scaffold at work.

Following tests, the true severity of the damage years of dust exposure had caused became clear. He was suffering from various systemic diseases.

The first signs that there was anything wrong came in the early 1990s when he had to have his dust-blocked sinuses scraped. He says: “This was the first time I was informed abnormalities had shown up in my lung X-rays.”

He was also suffering from the effects of exposure to vibration as a result of using power tools and in 2000 had operations for carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome and was diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). “Despite all this, I still felt reasonably fit,” he says.

His collapse on the scaffold in 2014 graphically illustrated that he was not as fit as he thought he was and in 2015 he was diagnosed with life threatening diseases linked to his exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS), dust produced when high silica content stone such as sandstone, slate and granite, as well as engineered quartz and concrete, are cut.

In order to highlight the dangers of working with RCS and to improve awareness and education, Gordon agreed to talk to Trolex, the British manufacturer of health & safety products that last year launched the Air XS Silica Monitor, which uses lasers to provide instant measurements of the level of RCS in the air. Trolex claim it is the first detector to be able to do this.

Gordon Somerville told Trolex: “I am a stonemason and builder by trade and began working in the construction industry when I left school in 1976. No matter what type of work I was carrying out or who I was working for, daily dust was involved and lots of it. I didn’t realise dust was making me ill but during my career there were clues which should have raised a red flag."

Trolex asked him: What would your reaction have been if you’d had an Air XS device on your site, telling you that you were exposed to excessive levels of RCS? Would this knowledge have made any difference to your work life?

Gordon Somerville: “A measurement device in any enclosed environment, such as a banker shed or a stone cutting yard, is a perfect example of where monitoring equipment could prevent so many illnesses by providing real time air quality information.”

Gordon says he, like many workers, was told that working in the open air was safe because the dust would be removed by the breeze, so they believed they did not need masks or dust extraction systems. “During the ’80s and ’90s dust was only considered a nuisance, almost no-one wore a respirator,” says Gordon.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimates there are as many as 600,000 workers a year exposed to silica in the UK and some 12,000 deaths resulting from lung diseases linked to past exposures of all kinds at work. Silica illness from RCS is said to be second only to asbestos. However, in 2013 the UK government removed silicosis from the list of notifiable diseases under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations), making it hard to track and assess the actual extent of the problem nationally and more difficult to link a case to an employer.

If an employer’s negligence can be shown to have resulted in a case of silicosis the sufferer is entitled to claim compensation, which can be a considerable sum.

As Gordon says: “The major cause of many occupational diseases is ignorance – a lack of awareness or basic information. I would suggest that not knowing how much dust is in the air at any given moment in time is a serious lack of essential information and any enclosed area where dust is created should be monitored and recorded by law.”

Trolex: If you could change anything about the approach and attitudes you and others had towards particulate safety, what would it be? For example, what measures in dust reduction would you like to see introduced?

Gordon: “I think education on all matters concerning dust is very important and there should be a requirement for any employee on entering a dusty occupation to know the dangers.

“To this day there is a severe lack of awareness of the dangers of dust and the diseases it can cause, not only throughout the workforce but also within the medical profession. In my experience, many GPs have never heard of half the diseases dust can cause, never mind of their connection with dust exposure.

“If the workforce understands the danger, knows what they are protecting themselves and others against and understand the reasons for complying with dust controls, then there is a much greater probability that they will at least attempt to reduce their dust production. The unaware cannot protect themselves from the unknown.”

Trolex: What is your life like now, and how much has silicosis affected you?

Gordon: “If you let dust get anywhere into your body it can cause all kinds of totally unexpected chaos. I can assure you, no-one ever mentioned any of this to me. I was always a very fit and active person and was rarely found inside the house. Today, I’m housebound.

“But it’s the pain that’s worst of all, something that I suffer from constantly and all over. Dusty diseases do not usually come in ones, as they are systemic diseases. If you only end up suffering from one, you can consider yourself lucky.

“There are lots of conditions no-one ever mentioned were associated with exposure to crystalline silica dust. I was recently diagnosed with liver disease, as well as dust causing inflammation in my brain…

“All the diseases currently affecting me were 100% preventable.

“The only cure for dusty diseases at the moment is not to let dust get inside the body, which means in order for silica induced diseases to be classed as 100% preventable, awareness of the hazard throughout the exposed population is required.

“Unfortunately, most of this information is not generally available to the exposed workforce. The warnings about RCS should include all the diseases associated with exposure to RCS dust; all the diseases that seem to be ignored and are classed as rare but seem to be rather common among dusty workers.

“I believe silicosis should be returned to the reportable diseases list along with the addition of all the other diseases known to be associated with dust. No-one knows how many workers actually get sick in this country as figures for these diseases are only guesstimated. Many are not even included.

“Apart from making the population aware of all the dangers associated with dust and teaching the workforce how to safely suppress and control emissions, the only other options are to ban dust production completely or go down the lines of other countries and restrict all work that produces dust to trained licence holders.

“I would suggest education is simpler.”

Trolex: Silica is the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos from the inhalation of dust particulates in the workplace. Yet silicosis is entirely preventable and the Air XS Silica Monitor is set to revolutionise worker safety within the construction industry by delivering real-time detection of dangerous respirable crystalline silica (RCS) particulates in airborne dust mixtures on the job.

The Air XS Silica Monitor can distinguish the presence of RCS within dust mixtures and displays the presence of RCS mass by volume. In addition, the Air XS Silica Monitor can track changing concentrations of RCS content over time, letting workers know if the amount of RCS in their workspace is increasing as they work and when it has risen to dangerous levels.

Glyn Pierce-Jones, Trolex CEO, says: “This is an exciting product in real time silica dust monitoring. The Air XS is a global-leading solution to an increasing health problem in many industries. Real time silica monitoring is the safest and most cost-effective way to promote workers’ health in the industries associated with RCS.

“The Air XS will substantially reduce the number of surveys needed onsite, improve processes, create smart ventilation and extraction systems and identify inefficiencies.”

"The tragedy is that silicosis is entirely preventable and yet it still affects hundreds of workers every year."

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Respiratory Health has published an up-date of its 2020 report on silicosis. The report was originally called Silica – The Next Asbestos?, but the update is, less dramatically, entitled Improving Silicosis Outcomes in the UK.

The up-date follows the APPG's review of its original report last year, which was a result, it said, of new evidence from industry. Industry was also invited to comment for the review (read last year's call for comments here...).

The original APPG group report was 40 pages long. The revision has reduced that to 29 pages, which can be downloaded here or by clicking on the link at the bottom of this report.

As a result, the new report contains less about Australia's findings and actions on silicosis, many of which relate to concerns about engineered quartz. Some manufacturers of engineered quartz have reduced the level of crystalline silica in their products and wet cutting and dust extraction helps suppress dust, although it does not eliminate respirable crystalline silica altogether.

The report still says those working in worktop manufacturing are at particular risk, along with others in the stone industry (those working sandstone are highlighted), those involved in mining and quarrying, and those involved in construction and demolition.

The report also still references the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimation that 600,000 workers are exposed to silica in the UK each year and that silica is “the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos”. It references the NHS as estimating there are 2,000-4,000 new cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD) diagnosed each year, of which a proportion will be due to silicosis.

ILD is a group of 100 or so chronic lung disorders that cause inflammation and scarring, making it hard to breath because the lungs struggle to get enough oxygen.

The report says the actual level of silicosis is difficult to pin down, not least because in 2013 the UK government removed silicosis from the list of notifiable diseases. As well as being almost impossible to track and assess the actual extent of the problem it is also harder to link exposure to RCS resulting in silicosis to any particular employer.

Jim Shannon MP, Chair of the APPG, says: "Silicosis is rarely the recorded reason for death but it causes significant co-morbidities – it increases the likelihood of developing other health issues such as tuberculosis, chest infections, heart failure, arthritis, kidney disease, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer."

The APPG recommends in its up-dated report that silicosis should once again be included as a notifiable disease in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, making silicosis notifiable through Public Health England. However, it has removed a recommendation in its original report that it should also be notifiable through RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations), which would require firms to report cases among employees and make claims for compensation easier. Lobbying by the insurance industry might have influenced the RIDDOR exclusion. 

The report includes a comment from Stone Federation Great Britain that it felt the COSHH regulations worked well. The report says: "The Federation reminded us that COSHH requires control to be in line with the principles of good practice and exposure needs to be controlled to a level that is proportionate to the health risks and 'in any case to below the WEL'."

WEL is the workplace exposure limit. In the UK it is 0.1mg/m3, which is higher than in many other comparable countries. In Australia, the USA, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Portugal it is half the UK level and in Canada it is half that again. In the Netherlands the WEL is 0.075mg/m3, although in Poland the limit is three times higher than in the UK. The APPG recommends that the HSE should assess and determine the data and technology needed to allow the UK to reduce its WEL to 0.05mg/m3.

Gordon Sommerville, a stonemason who has also spoken to Trolex, the makers of a real-time silica monitor, about the various lung diseases he suffers as a result of exposure to dust (read more from Gordon Sommerville here...), is mentioned in the report. It says Gordon, "a silicosis sufferer following a long career in a silica-based industry, in a very moving and personal submission, asked that the government acknowledges these other co-morbidities and that the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) include these diseases on their compensable occupational diseases list". In other words, any lung disease caused by dust in the workplace should result in the sufferer receiving compensation.

The Trolex Air XS monitor that specifically identifies levels of RCS in the air in real time gets a significant mention in the new report. It was launched last year and consequently was not mentioned at all in the 2020 report. During 2022 the Air XS collected five awards for its innovative use of laser to identify the distinctive signature of RCS and measure its concentration in the air in real time. The APPG recommends it be adopted by industry.  

All the recommendations from the APPG to Parliament are that:

Clinical

• silicosis is included as a notifiable disease in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010
• any notification of previous RCS exposure is accessible within secondary care, specifically on presentation at the lung health checks and the community diagnostic centres
• occupational health services are introduced into GP surgeries to allow for occupational histories to be taken where RCS work-related ill health is suspected
• patient records should record if a person has been subject to health surveillance due to exposure to silicosis, and occupational health providers undertaking surveillance should be required to notify the GP
• where health surveillance has been discontinued because of change of employment, a flag should be available for primary care staff at health check ups and appointments as a possible symptoms referral trigger for further investigation for silicosis

Regulatory

• the Department for Education considers the inclusion of silica related risk as a compulsory syllabus item for all building and construction modules in government funded apprenticeship schemes and further education courses
• the HSE undertakes an industry awareness campaign on the dangers of respirable crystalline silica in order to improve compliance with the existing Work Exposure Limits (WEL)
• the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) assesses and determines the data and technology needed to allow the UK to reduce the WEL for work with silica to 0.05mg/m3
• the HSE takes active steps to look into real time monitoring systems as a matter of some urgency, to determine and share the data sets that they deem to be necessary to take this forward and liaise with industry to speed the process and introduction of real time monitoring systems
• the HSE actively considers and consults with industry on the position of real time monitoring to complement the hierarchy of control.