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Blood-lead statistics

HSE Press Release E029-04 - 25 February 2004

The Health and Safety Executive today published the latest statistics (2002/03) on blood-lead levels of workers in Great Britain exposed to lead, as collected under the Control of Lead at Work Regulations.

The distribution of blood-lead levels of workers under medical surveillance in 2002/03 and the previous two years is shown below in Table 1. Table 2 gives a breakdown by industry sector and the number of young people under surveillance.

The main points:

Prepared by the Government Statistical Service

Table 1: Lead workers under medical surveillance, 2000/2001 to 2002/03

Maximum measured 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03
blood-lead level (µg/100ml) No. % No. % No. %
Male workers Total under surveillance 15,279 100.0 14,577 100.0 12245 100.0
<40 12,940 84.7 12,454 85.4 10454 85.3
40<50 1,553 10.2 1,356 9.4 1180 9.6
50<60 622 4.1 614 4.2 469 3.8
60<70 126 0.8 121 0.8 102 0.8
70+ 38 0.2 32 0.2 40 0.3
Individuals suspended 81 0.5 100 0.7 68 0.6
Female workers Total under surveillance 716 100.0 620 100.0 528 100.0
<25 648 90.5 560 90.3 491 93.0
25<30 36 5.0 36 5.8 19 3.6
30<40 25 3.5 17 2.7 16 3.0
40+ 7 1.0 7 1.2 2 0.2
Individuals suspended 13 1.8 10 1.6 5 0.9

Table 2: Lead workers under medical surveillance, 2002/2003, by industry sector and age.

Sector Male workers
Number in blood-lead category (µg/100ml)		 Total under surveillance Aged under 18 yrs Female workers
Number in category		 Total under surveillance Aged under 18 yrs
<20 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ <20 20-24 25-29 30-39 40+
Smelting, refining,alloying, casting 632 630 548 325 66 15 4 2520 3 77 13 12 8 0 110 0
Lead battery industry 504 615 599 484 253 56 18 2529 1 35 1 1 2 0 39 2
Badge and jewellery enamelling and other vitreous enamelling 6 3 3 0 1 0 0 13 0 31 1 3 0 0 35 0
Glass making 451 110 70 37 10 0 1 679 4 126 0 0 4 0 130 0
Manufacture of pigments and colours 448 78 56 18 3 0 1 604 0 145 2 1 0 0 148 0
Potteries, glazes and transfers 112 16 13 10 2 1 1 155 1 33 5 2 2 2 44 1
Manufacture of inorganic and organic lead compounds 459 196 134 65 16 3 3 876 0 19 3 0 0 0 22 0
Shipbuilding, repairing and breaking 63 9 4 0 1 1 0 78 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Demolition industry 236 49 34 22 13 0 1 355 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Painting buildings and vehicles 358 90 46 32 16 8 5 555 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Work with metallic lead and lead containing alloys 791 230 144 64 27 11 0 1267 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other processes 1683 365 206 88 46 5 5 2398 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Scrap industry 135 75 53 35 15 2 1 316 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All sectors 6078 2466 1910 1180 469 102 40 12245 25 466 25 19 16 2 528 3

Notes to editors

1. Detailed figures and a full commentary are available on HSE's website at www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/lead/index.htm.

2. Under the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002, and the 1980 and 1998 Regulations, all workers with significant exposure to lead are required to be under surveillance by an appointed doctor or a HSE Medical Inspector. The surveillance includes measurement of each worker's 'blood-lead level', the amount of lead in samples of their blood, expressed in micrograms per hundred millilitres (µg/100ml). Annual returns give summary statistics for each workplace based on the maximum blood-lead level recorded for each worker.

3. The Approved Code of Practice issued with the Regulations lays down limits of blood-lead concentration above which the appointed doctor is required to take action. If a worker's blood-lead level reaches or exceeds this limit a repeat measurement must be made, and if this still reaches or exceeds the limit the worker should be suspended from working with lead. The number of such workers suspended is also recorded annually and analysed in the statistics.

Under the 1980 Regulations the limits were 70µg/100ml for men (80µg/100ml up to 1986) and 40µg/100ml for women of reproductive capacity (to protect the health of any developing foetus). The suspension levels were lowered in the 1998 Regulations (and remained
unchanged in the 2002 Regulations), to 60 and 30µg/100ml respectively, with new 'action levels' of 50 and 25µg/100ml.

The 1998 Regulations also introduced suspension and action levels for young persons aged 18 years of 50 and 40µg/100ml respectively.

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Updated 2012-02-14