BSIF : BRITISH SAFETY INDUSTRY FEDERATION
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE UK The respiratory health concerns resulting from poor air quality have been
on the political agenda in Europe throughout the last 40 years and recently , the issue has been receiving an even higher profile within the UK .
London blames poor air quality for many thousand premature deaths each year and in many cities throughout Europe , we have seen the introduction of initiatives seeking to control traffic volumes . The UK Government is attempting to address the issue through a range of measures and we are hearing much in the media about the possibility of introducing a diesel engine scrappage scheme to deter private motorists from vehicles that produce harmful nitrogen oxides and particulate matter .
While all of this is getting public attention , the British Safety Industry Federation ( BSIF ) has published its ‘ Tackling Workplace Respiratory Illness Report ’ to maintain focus on the Occupational side of the problem .
It is estimated that in the UK , 2 million people are suffering from an illness caused or made worse by their current or past work . It is believed that 12,000
ALAN MURRAY , BSIF CEO people die every year from work related respiratory illnesses . The Government has prioritised the prevention of premature mortality across the National Health Service with projects that focus on cancers , diabetes and heart disease , yet very little attention to date has been given to a major cause of illness and death ; work related respiratory illness .
In 2012 , The Health and Social Care Act in England gave local councils responsibility for public health spending - an area that includes occupational respiratory diseases . This represented a strategic change , and the BSIF commissioned the ‘ Tackling Workplace Respiratory Illness Report ’ to shed light on how local government might address this key area .
The rational for the 2012 Act was to place a new level of responsibility for public health with local authorities as they were now expected to take appropriate steps to improve the health of their population . The Act was designed to show that the Government sees local authorities as having a critical role at the local level , in ensuring that all relevant organisations are putting plans in place to protect the local population against a range of threats and hazards .
In creating the report , the BSIF conducted two Freedom of Information Requests ( FOI ) during 2015 and 2016 to ascertain what local authorities are doing to prevent or tackle work – related respiratory diseases . The FOI request asked councils to provide a figure for the amount spent and on what , from this budget , in combatting work related respiratory diseases in their areas .
The FOI was sent to 401 councils and only 217 responded ! Of those who responded , only 8 councils reported allocating any funding to respiratory health , and just 4 stated that this was for work related respiratory diseases .
Most councils to date have focused the majority of this responsibility on promoting healthy practices through cancer awareness programmes , the promotion of healthy living and smoking cessation strategies .
The lack of funded strategies to combat ill health caused by work is concerning . Strategies and schemes that prevent workplace respiratory diseases stand as both important and effective ways to protect public health , preventing thousands of potential deaths . As of October 2016 , the UK ’ s working population stood at almost 32 million , a significant proportion of the total population of 65 million . The health of these 32 million must be a priority for the public health system and society as a whole . Workers do not leave the public realm when they enter work .
The ‘ Tackling Workplace Respiratory Illness Report ’ illustrates many ways that local councils can access support in discharging their public health .
The ‘ Tackling Workplace Respiratory Illness Report ’ can be downloaded from the BSIF website .
www . bsif . co . uk
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