GAP Group
  • Dust Poster 01Apr

    GAP STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF DUST CONTROL

    Activities such as grinding, cutting and heating of materials all have the potential to create hazardous dust and fumes and the stone dust produced contains some very fine dust called Respirable Crystaline Silica (RCS). Exposure to RCS dust can cause serious health problems, such as silicosis, lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and may eventually lead to death, so it is therefore essential to put dust control measures in place. In fact, an estimated 8,000 deaths occur in Britain each year from cancer caused by work factors, while 8% of all cancers in men is due to past working conditions. In particular, GAP is stressing the importance of hiring water bottles with cut off saws, as water suppression is the first line of defence from dust exposure.

    Like most plant hire companies, GAP supplies this straight forward dust control remedy to its customers however, following a recent review, GAP has found that only 2% of customers request a water bottle with a cut off saw, and although many of GAP’s customers will own their own water bottles this will not be the case for all.

    As a result of GAP’s research, the company has put a number of processes in place to ensure customers are aware of the dangers of dust:

    • Provision of Tool Box Talks on the Dangers of Dust from Depot Managers & Sales representatives to customers
    • Computer desktop backgrounds have been changed to remind GAP’s staff, particularly the Hiredesk, to remind customers to order the necessary dust control accessories
    • Split second safety posters, on the dangers of dust, are distributed throughout all 59 depots and provided to customers

    GAP’s Health & Safety Manager, Malcolm Campbell, comments; “Over the years, one of the key cornerstones of the business has been health and safety and so getting the message across to employees and customers about the importance of hiring water bottles with the cut off saws is imperative in order to reduce the risk of serious illnesses. Moreover, given the fact that you can’t always see the dust from cutting, we feel it is essential to raise awareness about the issue and to ensure that the necessary measures are always put in place”.

    GAP continues to strive towards being at the forefront of Health and Safety by introducing innovative ways of delivering health, safety and welfare information to its employees and customers. Its award winning Split Second Safety campaign, covering 16 topics including the dangers of dust, is available from GAP’s website at www.gap-group.co.uk/safety.  Furthermore, since the launch of the campaign in 2007, there has been a noteworthy 44% decrease in accident rates at GAP and the company endeavours to ensure that this rate will only continue to decrease further in the future.