Project Can Help 'Save Your Skin'
The Center to Protect Workers’ Rights (CPWR) and BAC are working together on a study that will help identify the best ways to prevent contact dermatitis, which is caused by contact with some construction materials such as wet Portland cement. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that work-related skin problems cost up to $1 billion per year (in all industries). In some cases, skin problems become so severe that workers must leave the trades.
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Look for soaps that have no lanolin, limonene, perfume, or abrasives. Use pH-neutral or
slightly acidic soaps, pH7 or lower. The best soaps for those who work with cement may be acidic, pH 5 or 6, which is close to the pH of normal skin (4.5). You should also use a buffering spray. |
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As part of this study, CPWR will formally evaluate the use of a hand rinse on the job to neutralize the harmful effects of handling cement. The project will also look at the economics and social effects of work-related skin problems and controls, and try to identify other causes of skin problems, such as epoxies.
To help workers’ protect themselves, CPWR, with assistance from BAC and other Building Trades unions, have developed a “Save Your Skin” brochure for workers, a “Physician’s Alert” brochure to give to your doctor, and a “Soap Fact Sheet” that shows which skin cleaners are safe to use, without making skin irritation worse. There is also an instructor’s training manual and a hazard alert pocket card.
The IU will be distributing a Safety and Health Pratictioners’ Guide to Skin Protection, an Employer’s Guide to Skin Protection, and a 15-minute Tool Box Session on Skin Problems to BAC Local Unions. “This information will help our Local officers educate their members on how to avoid work-related skin disorders,” says Executive Vice President Jerry O’Malley.
Copies of the hazard alert and “Skin Problems” are available in English and Spanish from www.cpwr.com or www.elcosh.org, or by calling Executive Vice President Jerry O’Malley at 202-383-3159.
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