Training material

a. Education for employers

• Leaflets and information

• It’s in your hands, a leaflet produced as part of a campaign initiated by the HSE and BSIF. It provides concise information on how to prevent work-related dermatitis, and covers causes, contact, legal obligations and control measures
• A guidance note from the HSE on Medical aspects of occupational skin disease, targeted at health professionals. It offers advice on how to carry out health surveillance of people at risk from agents that cause skin damage
• A UNISON guide for safety representatives on Dermatitis at work. It provides information on causes, occupations affected, avoidance and control, legal aspects and compensation and benefits
• Preventing dermatitis at work, an HSE leaflet for both employers and employees. It outlines causes, occupations affected, agents responsible for causing problems, avoidance, legal obligations and compensation and benefits
• Work-related dermatitis, a substantial document outlining the HSE’s Skin Disease project, part of its Disease Reduction Programme to reduce the incidence of work-related ill health caused by exposure to hazardous agents. The Skin Disease project aims to achieve a 10% reduction in the incidence of dermatitis from 2004 to 2008. It provides statistics, discusses how exposure occurs, and looks at occupations and causative agents. It also has a section on awareness training
• Guidelines for care of contact dermatitis, a paper in the British Journal of Dermatology by Bourke et al. (2001)
• Strategies for prevention: occupational contact dermatitis, a review paper in the journal Occupational Medicine by Brown (2004)
• Selecting protective gloves for work with chemicals: guidance for employers and health and safety specialists, an HSE leaflet that outlines how to choose appropriate protective gloves
• The HSE’s COSHH essentials website provides advice on controlling the use of chemicals and was developed to help firms comply with the COSHH Regulations. It also contains guidance documents on skin or eye contact, selecting protective gloves, selecting personal protective equipment and health surveillance for occupational dermatitis
• The HSE leaflet Sun protection: advice for employers of outdoor workers
• Current concepts of irritant contact dermatitis, a paper in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine by English (2004). It covers the management and prevention of contact dermatitis
• HSE leaflets on controlling the risk of skin exposures in nickel and nickel alloy plating operations, occupational dermatitis in the catering and food industries, and looking after your hands in the kitchen
• HSE leaflets on skin risks associated with particular substances, including chromium and you, latex and you and nickel and you
• Dermatitis, a leaflet produced by The Workers Health Centre, Australia
• Primary prevention strategies: occupational contact dermatitis; produced by St Michael's Hospital, Occupational Health Clinic; Canada

• Weblinks

• British Occupational Hygiene Society
• Institute of Occupational Medicine’s Sickness Absence Recording Tool occupational dermatitis site
• HSE’s Skin at work webpages, including case studies of dermatitis in fabric coating, hairdressing and food manufacture
• HSE webpages on specific industries, including food and drink manufacture, hairdressing, metalworking and printing
• HSE webpages on specific substances, including latex and metalworking fluids
• NHS Plus and NHS Direct
• Health and well-being self check tool - Investors in People Standard

• PowerPoint slides

• The presentation, Skin disorders: training for managers can be used for training purposes. First ‘save’ the document, then press ctrl+L to run as a presentation. Use the ‘page up’ and ‘page down’ keys to move through the slides. You can use the editable ‘supplementary slide’ to tailor the material to a particular organisation.

b. Education for employees

• Leaflets and information

• The HSE has advice for both employers and employees on Preventing dermatitis at work
• HSE’s Skin checks for dermatitis
• HSE’s Skin contact: distance your skin from chemicals and wet work
• HSE’s Correct removal of gloves: reusable gloves (chemically resistant)
• HSE’s Correct removal of gloves: single use gloves (splash resistant)
• HSE’s Skin care: method for using hand cream, soap, dispenser
• HSE’s Skin care: hand washing and applying skin cream
• A factsheet from Sheffield Occupational Health Advisory Service
• HSE’s Keep your top on: health risks from working in the sun
• HSE leaflets on occupational dermatitis in the catering and food industry, looking after your hands in the kitchen, chromium and you, controlling the risk of skin exposures in nickel and nickel alloy plating operations and latex and you
• Rehabilitation and you - a guide to rehabilitation services in Scotland

• Web links

• Information on dermatitis from the TUC’s workSMART website
• HSE webpages on specific industries, including food and drink manufacture, hairdressing, metalworking and printing
• HSE webpages on specific substances, including latex and metalworking fluids
• NHS Direct

• PowerPoint slides

• The presentation, Skin disorders: training for employees can be used for training purposes. First ‘save’ the document, then press ctrl+L to run as a presentation. Use the ‘page up’ and ‘page down’ keys to move through the slides. You can use the editable ‘supplementary slide’ to tailor the material to a particular organisation.