Pollution control - hazardous substances

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations

COSHH requires employers to control the exposure to hazardous substances to limit ill health.

The regulations cover assessing risks, implementing measures needed to control exposure and establish good working practices.

Hazardous substances include:

substances used directly in work activities (for example adhesives, paints, cleaning agents);
substances generated during work activities (for example fumes from soldering and welding);
naturally occurring substances (for example grain dust);
biological agents such as bacteria and other micro-organisms.

For further information visit the Health and Safety Executive website.

Transportation of hazardous waste

What is hazardous waste?

Hazardous wastes are any solid or liquid material that may cause harm to person or environment if not disposed of correctly. The following are examples of hazardous waste:

asbestos
DIY products
flammable liquids
garden chemicals
household cleaning products
poisons
syringes

General advice to householders for disposing of hazardous waste

Disposal must be in a way that avoids harming the environment or causing harm to human health.
Never dispose of household hazardous waste (e.g. pesticides or creosote) down sinks, drains, lavatories, watercourses, ditches, near wildlife habitats or near ponds.
Products for disposal should not be mixed together, and containers should be clearly labelled.
When transporting hazardous waste, make sure it is properly sealed so that no leakage is possible.

Asbestos

For more information read Pollution control - asbestos.

Ionising radiation

Ionising radiation is the energy produced from the disintegration of natural and man-made radioactive materials. It is present everywhere in the environment from naturally occurring radioactive minerals.

Radon gas is emitted from certain rocks and from radioactive material in our food and drink. We are also exposed to natural ionising radiation that comes from outer space and passes through the atmosphere of the planet – so-called 'cosmic radiation'.

There are three main sources of man-made ionising radiation. Firstly in medicinal uses e.g. for treating cancer and for the diagnosis of many diseases. Secondly, radioactive materials are found in industry, primarily for measurement purposes and for producing electricity. Both medical and industrial uses of radiation produce radioactive waste. Thirdly, it is present as fallout from previous nuclear weapon explosions and other accidents/incidents world-wide.

Exposure of the UK population to man-made ionising radiation from medical and industrial activity is closely controlled and the estimation of all exposures, whether from natural or man-made radioactive sources, is undertaken by the HPA (Health and Protection Agency). These estimates show that, on average, doses from industrial activity plus weapons fallout are a very small part of the total (less than 1%), doses from medical practices are greater (about 14%) and the remainder (about 85%) comes from natural sources. Similar figures are seen in other developed countries.

The damaging effects of ionising radiation come from the emission of pulses of energy that are released from radioactive material. There are three main forms of radiation - alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Of the three types, alpha is most easily absorbed, but if ingested is most dangerous - and gamma radiation is the most penetrating. Although different types of ionising radiation have different patterns of energy release and penetrating power there is no general property that makes man-made ionising radiation different and more damaging than the ionising radiation that comes from natural radioactive material. This means that we can make direct comparisons between doses from man-made sources of ionising radiation and those from natural sources.

Finally it is important to know that the radiations in the environment that come from sunlight, power-lines, electrical equipment and mobile phone systems do not have enough energy to produce these ionisations. Therefore, they are called non-ionising radiations.

Radon and its monitoring

Probably the most common radioactive material that most people will come into contact with is Radon gas. It is present everywhere in the environment and can be found in very high concentrations in certain parts of the country particularly in Cornwall and Devon. Kent has some elevated areas at or above the Government's action level of 200 becquerels.

For more advice and a full explanation on Radon matters visit the Health Protection Agency website.

Non-ionising radiation

Of great interest these days are the possible health effects from modern appliances such as mobile phones, sun beds and microwave ovens. All three utilise different types of electromagnetic radiation for their operation.

One of the most important types is microwave radiation, as we use that to cook our food and for our mobile communications. The principal cause of health effects from microwaves can be deduced if we just think about how we use our microwave oven. We use it to heat things, and indeed if we are exposed to microwaves at a high enough level, then the cells and organs in our body will be subject to a temperature increase.

The heating effect arises as follows. The human body is composed of molecules that, when subject to the effects of electromagnetic radiation, are made to vibrate. Bearing in mind that a typical microwave frequency is 2,400 MHz (2,400,00,00 Hz), the rate of vibration is very rapid, and generates a lot of friction within the area of the body being irradiated, and hence heat. The effect is rather like rubbing your hands together to warm them up.

Biological effects that arise from heating in this way tend to occur at electromagnetic radiation power levels of 10 milli-Watts per square centimetre or greater. To put this in context, we need to note that a Watt is a unit of power, equal to a joule per second. It is therefore a measure of energy input per unit time. To put this further into context, consider heating 1 kg of water in a kettle. To raise the temperature of this water by one degree Celsius requires 4,200 joules of energy. The human body has a cross-sectional area of about 9,000 square centimetres. So a whole-body exposure at 10 milli-Watts per square centimetre equates to about 90 Watts, or joules per second, of irradiation. At this rate of power radiation, the water in the kettle would need about 50 seconds of exposure to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. Not a particularly high power rate, then, when compared with conventional heat sources.

Note that it is possible to induce biological effects from electromagnetic radiation that are not thermal in origin. These arise for power densities lower than 10 milli-Watts per square centimetre. The mechanisms by which these arise are not well understood. However, they are clearly important for exposures at low levels of electromagnetic radiation, such as from using cell phones and other communication devices.

Mobile phone radiation

This is a contentious and ongoing issue. In 2000 the Stewart Report was commissioned by the Government and looked into the potential health concerns of the use of mobile phones. Stewart attempted to provide a balanced view but concluded that there is still insufficient evidence to limit or restrict the use of mobile phones. This remains the official Government view.

Mobile phones emit microwaves at a power density several orders of magnitude below the limit of 10 milli-Watts per square centimetre. If there are any health effects from using mobile phones, they don't come under the category of heating effects.

The arguments about whether mobile phone use has associated risks is a difficult one. In general, there are three sides to stories such as this. These are:

The manufacturers, who will (for obvious reasons) play down any possibility of harmful effects from their products.
Campaign groups, among whom there may be members who have suffered a loss that is believed to be attributable to cell phone use.
Regulatory authorities, who have to be very careful about giving undue weight to one side or the other, and who very often take a neutral stance.

However, at very low levels of radiation exposure, the risks are sufficiently small that the probability that they will lead to a health effect - over a person's lifetime - are also very small. In other words, low level ionising radiation may not be enough to kill you. It may just be that exposure to cell phone radiation does indeed lead to an increased probability of a health effect, but the probability is sufficiently small that an individual is more likely than not to feel no ill effects over a life time.

The same is likely to apply in studies of mobile phone radiation. The effects that a particular patient may exhibit may be difficult to attribute to any particular cause, because of the lack of knowledge about the other exposures that the patient may have suffered.

Finally, it is worth stating that there are very few beneficial activities in life that do not engender some form of risk to the individual. Driving our cars is one such risk that we take. We know that there is some small risk that we might not complete our journeys, because we may be involved in a fatal crash along the way. Nevertheless, we don't stop driving because of this. Maybe a similar line of thinking should apply to the use of cell phones. The ability to have contact at all times with our families and business colleagues is undoubtedly a good thing. Maybe the small risk of a health effect is worth it - just as the risk is worth it to drive on the roads in order to get where we want to go

Telecommunication masts

These can be considered in a similar manner to mobile phones. For more information visit the Mobile Operators Association website. To check whether there is a mast near you, visit the Ofcom website and click on the map.