Article Text
Abstract
Respirable dust, including respirable crystalline silica (RCS), is a common risk to health for construction workers. New Zealand and international literature has shown that construction workers are likely exposed to high levels of dust in the performance of their work. However, very little is known about the prevalence of controls used to minimise the dust exposure. An on-site survey of 250 construction workers was undertaken in Hamilton, New Zealand. Respondents were asked how frequently they completed any of six common high-risk activities for dust exposure: [1] cutting or drilling concrete, [2] grinding or polishing concrete, [3] jackhammering, [4] crushing concrete, [5] cutting or sanding wood, [6] cutting or sanding plasterboard or fibre cement board. For each activity completed more than once a month, workers were asked about the controls they used to minimise exposure to dust and their consideration of the risks to their health. Low levels of controls were reported across the high-risk activities. The majority of workers did not usually use water suppression when jackhammering (79.6%) or crushing concrete (56.3%). Nearly two thirds (62.8%) of workers did not use dry dust extraction when cutting or sanding wood, and over a quarter of respondents used neither water suppression nor dry dust extraction when cutting/drilling concrete (30.1%) or grinding/polishing concrete (25.0%). Half of the workers (50%) often or always wore respirators when performing dusty work but fewer than half of ever-wearers were fit-tested or clean-shaven. Younger workers (<25 years) were significantly less likely to consider risks to their health or wear a respirator compared to older workers (≥25). This study provides an insight into the use of dust controls in the construction industry in New Zealand. Future work should investigate how to encourage or enable uptake of stronger dust controls.