There is a current thread on the Members forum regarding woodworking which has raised an interesting point, perhaps worthy of its own thread: Which is the gravest matter, going through life with missing fingers & thumb, loss of an eye, eventual nasal cancer (maybe) or lung disease from wood dust? I guess that sufferers from any of these conditions will have their own thoughts but I pondered it for a while with no firm opinion, other than being thankful that I remain in good health with all my bits intact. What do others think?

The eye & then the dust Actually all the non dust hazards you mention should be easy to get fixed The dust solution is complex I know of casual woodworkers (not working week exposure levels) who have been made severely ill by certain wood dusts in very short time scales

Both are important. Woodworking machinery risks, in my view cannot be "trivial"--that is why there is a seperate ACoP for PUWER-Woodworking. Extract from HSE Website:- "The woodworking industry has one of the highest accident rates in manufacturing, most of which are caused by contact with moving machinery. This accounted for 25% of all major accidents and one of last year’s two deaths in the woodworking industry" http://www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/ The above is true despite control measures /trips/guarding available. Unfortunately, "health" has been a poor second to "safety" not only in woodworking, but generally in all industries as due to latency and also what occurs outside work to some extent. Even simple measures such as machinery/tools with mini-LEV and as a last resort, RPE can help

What mistake? Unless I misread the original post it was a general question about immediate or latent risks. Thousands may die of asbestos related illness, but that cannot be prevented now because it was contracted many decades ago.

It is not "simple" to measure work related illness as it is for accidents. That is why the HSE does not depend upon RIDDOR data comlpletely and has other measures. In all the annual statistics reports from the HSE, including the latest one, the HSE has not been shy to highlight the number of deaths due to cancer etc or the cost of ill health etc to the GB economy. The 2013-14 annual HSE statistics report STARTS with ill-health, not safety:- http://www.hse.gov.uk/St...ics/overall/hssh1314.pdf Ill health 1.2 million people who worked during the last year were suffering from an illness (long-standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. 0.5 million of these were new conditions which started during the year. A further 0.8 million former workers (who last worked over 12 months ago) were suffering from an illness which was caused or made worse by their past work. 2535 people died from mesothelioma in 2012 and thousands more from other occupational cancers and diseases such as COPD. The report under the "work related ill-health heading states:- Fatal diseases Around 13 000 deaths each year from occupational lung disease and cancer are estimated to have been caused by past exposure, primarily to chemicals and dust at work. This figure includes diseases for which it is possible to either count individual deaths directly, or where there is sufficient data to produce statistical estimates. Most of these diseases take many years to develop and so deaths occurring now are largely a result of past workplace conditions. Most of these deaths were occupational cancers or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Current estimates (based on 2005 data) suggest there are at least 8000 occupational cancer deaths each year in Great Britain. More than half of these cancer deaths were caused by past exposures to asbestos (either mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer). The next four biggest categories of occupational cancer were lung cancer due to silica, diesel engine exhaust, and mineral oils, and breast cancer due to shift work.

I wouldn't mind betting more people have been exposed to asbestos & have subsequently contracted diseases, just in the past 10 years, than have died from accidents at work in that time.

Brilliant - quite agree

I fully agree with Hilary. May I just add a quotation from Mark Twain: 'It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." How often do I find that, when investigating occupational skin problems, that this has been the case! Chris

Some interesting thoughts here. How about this pre-Friday "skunk in the elevator" notion: Restrict work involving any long term health risks to those over age 60 on the basis that they'll be reaching the natural end of their life before any illness/disease develops. It will also have the side effect of reducing the future pension burden. I think I'll get my coat!