Posted By Jason911 O.k so I accept that flour is a Coshh controlled substance and even though I do not know of a single documented case of any of our 13200 employees who work in our Bakery department being ill after being exposed to it, I will do my R.A like a good boy. What I am struggling with is the HSE advice on respiratory sensitisers and their symptoms of runny nose, coughing and watery eyes. What should you do as a manager if your employees suffer these symptoms? Why get them to stop work of course and send them to the doctors. Surely we'll just be sending people home every time they have a cold won't we? How can I advise and train employees to work in our bakeries that form part of an open plan warehouses of around 135000 sq ft, without alarming them or giving them an excuse to go home every time they get the sniffles? Help please.

Posted By CRT Flour dust, as you point out, is a substance classified as hazardous under COSHH. It is a respiratory sensitiser and is known to cause allergic rhinitis and occupational asthma. HSE and LA`s are currently looking into the issues of exposure to flour dust as part of a disease reduction campaign. This intervention has come about because a HSE project identified that bakers had made little change to work practices following the introduction of the MEL, consequently the cases of ill-health in this sector has continued to rise, in fact HSE statistics (2003/04) showed that incidence rates for occ asthma reported by chest physicians suggest that bakers are the second most at risk group. Good advice can be found at www.coshh-essentials.org.uk. click to get started and choose 'direct advice topics' followed by 'production industry' then 'flour milling and craft bakery'. Ignore at your peril !

Posted By flushfolder jason you may need to look at the work/cleaning methods employed. Historically bakers have always thrown flour around to prevent adhesion of the dough to various surfaces i.e plant,felt belts, tables etc. The method of cleaning down with an airline is also common practice and creates a greater hazard because of the explosion risks involved.(i was once working in a bakery with a high airborne flour content, when one of the EFK's zapped a moth and the resulting spark sent a flashover the length of the building, fortunateley the open windows prevented any serious structural damage, with the only casualty being the tousers of my brand new overalls!) i agree it will be difficult to change systems and work methods as flour use is an endemic part of the industry, but if you can work at controlling the amount released you will make substantial savings both with sick leave and flour costs. on the subject of health surveillance, as most employees in the industry tend to move from one bakery to the next there is no real way of telling where the individual was exposed to risk as flour-lung, like asbestosis is a chronic condition and can take years to show. for more information and guidance try the federation of master bakers website, they understand the business and offer good advice and support.