In 2024, Scottish Construction Now reported on me being awarded the CIOB Paul Dockerill Award, a £10,000 grant to support projects focusing on innovation, skills development, fire safety and resident engagement.

To jog your memory, my funded project, called Residents, Clients & Construction Professionals Silica Excellence (ReACT), was to design and develop a practical and pragmatic silica dust awareness toolkit for anyone who is managing, undertaking or involved in housing sector construction works. My aim is to help residents, clients, management and of course, the construction workforce, be more aware of the dangers which silica dust poses.

For anyone who is still unsure about what silica dust is, it is a natural substance found in various construction materials like stone, sand, gravel, asphalt, brick, cement and concrete. Inhaling particles from these materials, whether that be short or long-term exposure, can result in serious and life changing illnesses.

It is generated through numerous high-risk activities, including cutting, drilling, grinding, and sanding, and approximately 500 UK construction workers die every year from silicosis, a fatal lung disease caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust. Prolonged exposure and subsequent inhalation of silica-containing dust can increase the risk of contracting severe respiratory diseases or cancers, as well as numerous debilitating heart, renal and autoimmune diseases and reduced life expectancy. For example, a former female mining quarry employee was diagnosed with silicosis from silica dust exposure when working as an administrative worker in 2019. As a result, she is now more susceptible to severe illness with having a severely compromised immune system.

I think now is a timely moment to provide an update on how the project is going, what I have learned so far and what I hope for the outcomes to be.

My research has included a UK wide survey of those working in middle management positions in the housing RMI sector and series of interviews with senior leaders in UK housing organisations. Combined, they showed there are different levels of awareness of the risks silica dust poses across the housing sector.

From the survey data, alarmingly, 75 per cent of the managers surveyed said they do not have a specific plan in place for silica dust. Furthermore, every manager I surveyed agreed their organisation is not fully equipped to manage silica dust. Unsurprising as 75 per cent were unaware of the current UK Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) of 0.1 mg/m³.

I’ve also been working closely developing a database of occupational case studies. Fortunately, Athol Hill, a proud Scottish stonemason who was diagnosed with silicosis before later developing lung cancer has come forward with his own experience. Athol was given very little training about the dangers of silica dust early in his career and was often made to carry out dangerous tasks without the correct respiratory protective equipment (RPE).

Thankfully, Athol is now back at work, but the condition has left him unable to do the hobbies he enjoys like playing football and golf, and it is for people like him that I think this work is so important.

What has become evident is that the changes needed to keep everyone safe from the dangers of silica dust won’t happen just through increased awareness and goodwill.

As with almost all aspects of health and safety in construction, due focus and action will only come about through regulation and legislation driven by government. I’m therefore delighted to be working alongside CIOB’s in-house Policy and Public Affairs Team to put together a briefing for Westminster stakeholders to kickstart conversations with those who have the power to make a difference.

Recommendations set to be made to Government include:

• Working closely with industry stakeholders to develop and implement a set of Control of Silica Dust Regulations, in a similar vein to the current Asbestos Regulations
• To develop the metrics to measure the effectiveness of such an initiative to ensure a good outcome
• To produce silica dust thresholds which can be measured annually
• Assessing the costs of these recommendations and commit to funding them
• Raising public awareness of the dangers to health which silica dust poses.

As health and safety isn’t a devolved matter, changes in legislation would have to come at a Westminster level, so we will first look to campaign there. However, we will take the findings of the report to those in the devolved nations to raise awareness of the risks that prolonged exposure to construction dusts can have. The wider that message goes, the more lives can be saved.