Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will introduce an industry awareness campaign on the potential effects of exposure to silica.

Over the last three years the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has delivered several month-long inspection campaigns encompassing risks arising from silica in the construction industry. These campaigns also ran over the period impacted by coronavirus restrictions. HSE used these campaigns to highlight risks from dust, including silica, and used repeated messaging to drive sustained behaviour changes. The campaigns involved inspectors across the country visiting around 1000 sites identified as being likely to have dust risks present.

HSE also delivers communications campaigns to support its regulatory activity. These campaigns inform duty holders and workers of the hazards faced and how these should be controlled and monitored. HSE’s dust campaign which ran in late 2021, included silica exposure, and involved social media and press activity to support awareness of the risks and how to control them.