Skin at work: action plan

Practical action by employers is the key to preventing work related dermatitis caused by chemicals.

A suitable step-by-step action plan may be summarised as follows:

• For every task undertaken at your workplace, know what products or substances are being used or generated.
• Find out what are the health and safety hazards associated with each of the substance or product used or generated. Find out whether these substances carry warnings signs and hazard information on dangers to the skin. You can find these on product labels and/or in Safety Data Sheets. SDS must be provided by the supplier of the chemical.
• Frequent contact with water (wet working) is a major cause of WRD. Some substances (eg: formaldehyde in metal working fluids) may be generated during work and can cause WRD. Take account of wet work and substances generated during work in the next step.
• Find out which of your employees are exposed to these substances, how does their skin come into contact, for how long and the frequency.
• Find out what control measure you have in place.
• Based on these make a judgement whether your employees are at risk of getting work related dermatitis.
• If there is a risk of WRD, can you get rid of the chemical altogether? This is the best and simplest solution.
• If you cannot get rid of the offending chemical, can you able to replace it with a less harmful chemical. Seek the advice of your Trade Association.
• Introduce process controls so that skin does not come into contact with the chemical. If the contact is by immersion, or splash find a solution that would provide a safe working distance (SWD) between the chemical and the skin.
• If the exposure is due to dust, vapour in the air, install a ventilated enclosure or provide local exhaust ventilation. Consult "COSHH Essentials". It is likely to provide a suitable engineering control for your task.
• If you have provided all the above controls and you consider that skin exposure could not be prevented altogether, then provide chemical protective gloves and coverall as appropriate. Selection of gloves is a complicated process. Always seek the help of your chemical supplier or a reputable PPE supplier.
• Make sure employees: have been taught on safe working practices; use the controls provided; have been trained to correctly use process equipment and PPE; know how to check their skin for signs of dermatitis; understand the benefits and limitations of skin care creams.
• Provide mild skin cleaning cream that will do the job and washing facilities with hot and cold water.
• Tell employees to clean their hands before consuming drinks and food or before wearing gloves.
• Ensure pre and post work creams are used.
• Seek the help of occupational health professionals if you suspect that you may have dermatitis problem at your workplace.
• Put in place a management system that checks that all of these actions are carried out in practice.

You can find further information on publications listed in useful information section of the Skin at Work site.