Festool spearheads campaign to promote healthy working environments for UK tradespeople.
Carpenters are four times more likely to contract asthma compared with other UK workers. With this in mind, Festool, the leading supplier of power tools and accessories, is working with the British Lung Foundation (BLF) to promote the benefits of safer working using dust extraction.
Festool has already attended one of the leading woodworking trade recently, W16, and with the help of BLF’s nurses hundreds of tradespeople were able to come to the stand for a free drop-in lung health test. This resulted in some medical referrals being made to check on possible health issues with potential ongoing treatment.
As a known carcinogen, exposure to wood dust can also increase your risk of lung cancer. The BLF’s Battle of Breath study found that over 43,000 people are diagnosed with the condition every year.
Whilst it is the second most common form of cancer in the UK, after breast cancer, the mortality rate is higher.
Statistically, only half of the people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive six months after diagnosis. It is the biggest cause of death from cancer and lung disease in both men and women in the UK.
Pete Higginson, a Carpenter from Cambridge, said: “I think I will be cutting up wood for the next 40 years. I don’t smoke so it’s worth looking after the pair of lungs I’ve got!
“That’s why I’ve got Festool Dust Extractors. I work with the CTL SYS all day. On and off it sits next to the bench and it’s great when fitting because it fits in the SYS tower. My Festool CTL 26 dust extractor keeps the KS 88 E clean and accurate.”
Jonathon Burcham, Marketing Manager at Festool, said: “Tradespeople are at real risk every day. The use of dust extractors provides a safer and more pleasant environment both for the tradesperson, their colleagues, as well as the customer. Dust extraction removes dust at source – resulting in the machine breathing in the dust and not you!
“I hope our latest campaign drives home the key benefits of dust extraction in a way that will resonate with every tradesperson.”
Dr Penny Woods, Chief Executive at The British Lung Foundation, said: “Prevention of lung disease is a cornerstone of our work. We are pleased to work with Festool to promote safe working practices and preventative healthcare.
“We want to make sure that tradespeople – including carpenters – are aware of the dangers of inhaling dust from wood and stone, so it’s great that we are working with Festool to raise awareness of occupational risks and how to avoid them.”
Ideal for mobile use and assembly, the Festool range of safe and robust dust extractors are low in weight and compact, ideal to transport from job to job, again saving time for the tradesperson.
Festool offers a range of dust extractors which are suitable for any job from low to high class dust, including general work to anything that is a known carcinogen including lead, cadmium and asbestos.
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