Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are heading to several big bakeries across Great Britain to ensure employers are safeguarding their staff from the risk posed by ingredients like flour dust and bread improver enzymes.
Dust can cause the airways to become hypersensitive. Once a worker becomes sensitised, even small amounts of dust can trigger asthma symptoms, and in many cases the condition is irreversible. Flour dust is one of the most common causes of occupational asthma in Great Britain.
Dust generated from flour and other ingredients can linger in an environment if not properly controlled, with common bakery tasks such as dusting flour during dough handling, ingredient dispensing, and flour-spill clean ups placing workers at particular risk.
Businesses must follow the hierarchy of controls under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH), and HSE inspectors will be assessing bakeries’ compliance in line with these regulations.
Specifically, the inspectors will look at whether employers have considered preventative measures in order of their effectiveness:
- Eliminating dusty processes (e.g. using non-stick belts instead of flour as a lubricant)
- Substituting dusty ingredients with alternatives
- Engineering controls like local exhaust ventilation
- Respiratory protective equipment as a last resort
They will also check if the business has a health surveillance in place for these teams.
“Too many workers in bakeries are suffering from unnecessary exposure to dusty ingredients including flour. When employers prevent exposure, the risk of asthma is removed. That’s the key principle we want bakeries to apply,” said Mike Calcutt, deputy director in HSE’s Engagement and Policy Division.
“It may be possible to reduce the risk with ventilation or protective equipment, but these controls should not be selected where elimination and substitution would be effective.
“I urge employers to carefully consider dusty processes, eliminating risk and substituting to prevent exposure by weighing the long-term benefits in sustaining prevention against the true cost of ill-health and using controls lower in the hierarchy.”
Low-dust flour is an established standard, and the Federation of Bakers’ Blue Book provides industry-specific guidance on dust control and health surveillance.
Guidance on controlling flour dust in bakeries can also be found on the HSE website here.
