Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) provide information to welders on and (b) help protect welders from the potential health risks associated with mild steel welding fume.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has taken the following steps to provide information to welders:

• A safety alert was issued in 2019 following the change in the categorisation of mild steel welding fume carcinogenicity. This led to a lot of action from industry and articles in the trade press (Change in Enforcement Expectations for Mild Steel Welding Fume (hse.gov.uk)).

• The specific HSE guidance to businesses on welding fume control was updated in the form of the COSHH Essentials Welding Sheet WL3 (Welding fume control (hse.gov.uk)).

• HSE’s website has a wide range of guidance and resources on the safety and health hazards associated with welding (Welding - HSE). Access to HSE’s website and downloading the documents on the website is free.

• HSE developed a multi-channel media campaign, including the Work Right Site (Campaigns Archive - Work Right to keep Britain safe), a top tips resource on preparing for inspections and regular e-bulletins and social media alerts covering welding fume control.

• A series of presentations at stakeholder events and webinars, reaching thousands of people and hosted by multiple partners, informed duty holders about the required control measures for metal working fluids and welding.

• The findings of the regular HSE inspection campaigns are shared and highlighted with the relevant industry stake holder groups.

• More widely HSE has worked with the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) to promote the Breathe Freely campaign (Breathe Freely – Controlling exposures to prevent occupational lung disease in industry)

HSE conducts regular inspection campaigns targeting the industries where welding is prevalent. Since 2013 there have been annual campaigns specifically focussing on metal fabrication businesses including assessment of their control of exposure to welding fume. Inspection activities in other industries, for example agriculture and construction, also address welding controls where appropriate.