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Skin at work: action plan

Practical action by employers is the key to preventing work related dermatitis caused by chemicals.

A suitable step-by-step action plan may be summarised as follows:

  • For every task undertaken at your workplace, know what products or substances are being used or generated.
  • Find out what are the health and safety hazards associated with each of the substance or product used or generated. Find out whether these substances carry warnings signs and hazard information on dangers to the skin. You can find these on product labels and/or in Safety Data Sheets. SDS must be provided by the supplier of the chemical.
  • Frequent contact with water (wet working) is a major cause of WRD. Some substances (eg: formaldehyde in metal working fluids) may be generated during work and can cause WRD. Take account of wet work and substances generated during work in the next step.
  • Find out which of your employees are exposed to these substances, how does their skin come into contact, for how long and the frequency.
  • Find out what control measure you have in place.
  • Based on these make a judgement whether your employees are at risk of getting work related dermatitis.
  • If there is a risk of WRD, can you get rid of the chemical altogether? This is the best and simplest solution.
  • If you cannot get rid of the offending chemical, can you able to replace it with a less harmful chemical. Seek the advice of your Trade Association.
  • Introduce process controls so that skin does not come into contact with the chemical. If the contact is by immersion, or splash find a solution that would provide a safe working distance (SWD) between the chemical and the skin.
  • If the exposure is due to dust, vapour in the air, install a ventilated enclosure or provide local exhaust ventilation. Consult "COSHH Essentials". It is likely to provide a suitable engineering control for your task.
  • If you have provided all the above controls and you consider that skin exposure could not be prevented altogether, then provide chemical protective gloves and coverall as appropriate. Selection of gloves is a complicated process. Always seek the help of your chemical supplier or a reputable PPE supplier.
  • Make sure employees: have been taught on safe working practices; use the controls provided; have been trained to correctly use process equipment and PPE; know how to check their skin for signs of dermatitis; understand the benefits and limitations of skin care creams.
  • Provide mild skin cleaning cream that will do the job and washing facilities with hot and cold water.
  • Tell employees to clean their hands before consuming drinks and food or before wearing gloves.
  • Ensure pre and post work creams are used.
  • Seek the help of occupational health professionals if you suspect that you may have dermatitis problem at your workplace.
  • Put in place a management system that checks that all of these actions are carried out in practice.

You can find further information on publications listed in useful information[60] section of the Skin at Work site.

Link URLs in this page

  1. Skin at workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/index.htm
  2. Overview - Employers, employees and traineeshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/index.htm
  3. Overview - What are work-related skin diseases?https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/whatare.htm
  4. Dermatitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/dermatitis.htm
  5. Urticariahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/urticaria.htm
  6. Skin cancerhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/cancer.htm
  7. Sun exposurehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/sunprotect.htm
  8. Overview - Latex allergieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/latex.htm
  9. Selecting latex gloveshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/latex-gloves.htm
  10. How does exposure happen?https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/exposure.htm
  11. Overview - How can they be prevented?https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/prevention.htm
  12. Gloveshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/gloves.htm
  13. High-risk jobshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/highrisk/index.htm
  14. What does the law say?https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/law.htm
  15. Overview - H&S and medical professionalshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/index.htm
  16. Overview - Causes of skin diseasehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/index.htm
  17. Causes of Contact dermatitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/dermatitis.htm
  18. Causes of Contact urticariahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/urticaria.htm
  19. Causes of Acneshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/acnes.htm
  20. Causes of Cancershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/cancers.htm
  21. Causes of Leucoderma (Vitiligo)https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/leucoderma.htm
  22. Structure and functions of the skinhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/structure.htm
  23. Skin infectionshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/infections.htm
  24. Overview - Causative agentshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/agents.htm
  25. Skin irritants and sensitisershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/agentstable1.htm
  26. Causes of contact urticariahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/agentstable2.htm
  27. Agents that cause skin cancerhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/causes/agentstable3.htm
  28. Managing exposure riskshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/managerisk.htm
  29. Legal requirementshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/legal.htm
  30. Information for inspectorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/inspectors.htm
  31. Training resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/trainingresources.htm
  32. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/information.htm
  33. Publicationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/publications.htm
  34. Postershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/posters.htm
  35. Overview - Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/index.htm
  36. Photographic chemicalshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/photographic.htm
  37. Tiler: Ted's storyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/tiler.htm
  38. Hairdressing: Maxine's storyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/hairdressers.htm
  39. Hairdressing: Julie's storyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/julie-hair.htm
  40. Hairdressing: Marie's storyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/marie-hair.htm
  41. Latex allergies - Nursinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/alison-nursing.htm
  42. Latex allergies - Radiographyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/pip-radiographer.htm
  43. Latex allergies - Dental practicehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/julie-dental.htm
  44. Catering industryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/catering.htm
  45. Meat processinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/meatprocessing.htm
  46. Paint manufacturinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/paint.htm
  47. Fabric coaterhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/casestudies/fabric.htm
  48. Image galleryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/imagelibrary.htm
  49. Statisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/statistics.htm
  50. Researchhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/research.htm
  51. Presentationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/presentations.htm
  52. Videoshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/professional/videos.htm
  53. Linkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/links.htm
  54. Overview - FAQshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/index.htm
  55. General questionshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/general.htm
  56. Hairdressing FAQhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/hairdressing.htm
  57. Catering FAQhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/catering.htm
  58. Cleaning FAQhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/cleaning.htm
  59. Dental practice FAQhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/faq/dental.htm
  60. useful informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/information.htm
  61. Skin checks for dermatitis (Free poster)https://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/assets/docs/skindermatitis.pdf
  62. Keep your top on: INDG 147https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg147.pdf
  63. COSHH Essentialshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/index.htm
  64. HSE Bookshttps://books.hse.gov.uk/
  65. The National Eczema Societyhttp://www.eczema.org/
  66. Cateringhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/catering/index.htm
  67. Constructionhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm
  68. COSHHhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/index.htm
  69. Health serviceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/index.htm
  70. Printinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/printing/index.htm

Glossary of abbreviations/acronyms on this page

SDS
Safety Data Sheets
WRD
Work Related Dermatitis
WRD
Work Related Dermatitis
WRD
Work Related Dermatitis
SWD
Safe Working Distance
COSHH
Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health
PPE
Personal Protective Equipment
PPE
Personal Protective Equipment

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2023-04-27