Exclusive: HSE withdraws lead safety advice
Updated on 05 November 2009
The Health and Safety Executive withdraws advice on the dangers of working with lead after a Channel 4 News investigation finds over 100,000 people could be at risk.
Channel 4 News has been investigating the effects of lead on workers in Britain and has discovered that the official health and safety warnings about the dangers of lead are woefully inadequate.
Blood tests are the standard way to monitor exposure to lead. The has set the maximum exposure limit at 60 microgrammes of lead in a decilitre of blood.
But substantial scientific evidence now exists that much lower levels - as little as 10 to 20 microgrammes per decilitre - can cause chronic, long-term ill health.
And yet the official guidance for workers about the dangers of lead is silent on that. In fact it goes even further.
"Serious ill-health problems rarely occur unless people have at least 100 microgrammes of lead per decilitre of blood," it says.
After Channel 4 News approached the HSE they admitted the leaflet is misleading and have since removed it from their web site.
Scientists have warned that lead safety levels are set too high and there is considerable evidence it can be dangerous at much lower levels than official guidance recommends.
When lead was removed from paint, petrol and water pipes 30 years ago, many thought poisoning problems were solved.
But all over Britain and in many different industries, workers are still exposed to lead through their jobs.
Today research from Stirling University is published suggesting over a 100,000 people in Britain may be at risk of neurological problems, heart disease and even cancer as result of their jobs working with lead.
As Channel 4 News found the cumulative effects of long term low level exposure can be devastating.
After working with lead as a plumber for 44 years Garry Hadfield lost some of his most familiar memories - he even failed to recognise his wife.
"I'd arranged to meet my wife in town. And I had panicked because I couldn’t remember what she looked like. And she had to come right up to me and speak to me before I recognised her who she was," he said.
Ten years after he stopped work the affects are still rife.
"I can't see things which are right in front of me," he said.
"I don't recognize them. Apparently I can see them but the message doesn't get through."
The HSE declined to be interviewed but said: "The statement in the leaflet 'Lead and You' is intended to refer to the effects of acute lead poisoning and is correct when understood in this way.
"However, we accept that this sentence could be made clearer and there is a periodic review scheduled for this publication shortly."
