New skin health guidance aimed at non-clinical staff

New guidance on managing skin health at work seeks to equip non-clinical staff including HR professionals, line managers and safety reps with the skills needed to help manage occupational skin disease risks.

SOM’s Managing skin health at work guidance offers evidence-based guidance on the roles and responsibilities of those involved in preventing, identifying and managing occupational skin disease in industries including construction, manufacturing, food production, healthcare, hairdressing and cleaning.

It stresses the importance of health surveillance to identify the effects of acute exposure and prolonged low-dose exposure to irritants, and reminds employers that staff with underlying skin conditions may be more susceptible to developing skin disease.

The main occupational skin hazards are highlighted including UVA and UVB rays from the sun and UVC rays from arc welding, which can cause skin cancer, as well as substances that can cause dermatitis such as detergents, chemicals, food, resins, solvents, mechanical oils and prolonged contact with water.

It sets out best practice advice for conducting risk assessments and health surveillance, and provides advice on case escalation practices.

At the height of the Covid pandemic, it was reported that the UK had seen a spike in dermatitis cases because of increased handwashing and wearing PPE.

The guide highlights that the value of using a hierarchy of controls model, with elimination of the hazard top, followed by substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and finally the use of PPE.

“Management responsibilities increase the further down the hierarchy, for example maintenance regimes for respiratory protective equipment (RPE) use such as issuing new filters, and ensuring face fit with clean shaving (if applicable),” the guide makes clear.

“The lower down the hierarchy, the greater the reliance on human behaviour, human reliability, and the potential for human failure,” it adds.

SOM has urged occupational professionals to pick up and disseminate the guide to organisations they are working with or for. As it said: “We invite you to share this document within your organisations so that collectively we can help to upskill those who have direct responsibility for undertaking skin surveillance and reducing risks to working skin at source.”

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