Dust is often treated as a visibility, housekeeping or neighbourhood nuisance. The health evidence shows that it can be much more serious.

Across the UK, people may encounter harmful dust at work, around industrial and construction activity. The level of risk depends on what the dust contains, how fine the particles are, how much becomes airborne and how frequently people are exposed.

For International Day of Clean Air, we are looking at what the latest UK evidence tells us about dust and health, where progress is being made and why effective dust control still matters.

UK dust and lung health at a glance

1. Around 11,000 annual lung disease deaths in Great Britain are linked to past workplace exposures, including dusts, fibres, fumes, gases and other airborne hazards.
2. Workers report approximately 22,000 new breathing or lung problems each year that they believe were caused or made worse by work.
3. Around 4,000 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease deaths each year in Great Britain are attributed to past occupational exposures.
4. Past workplace exposure to silica is estimated to contribute to nearly 800 lung cancer deaths annually in Great Britain.
5. Northern Ireland separately estimates 20 lung cancer deaths each year from occupational silica exposure.

Sources: Health and Safety Executive Occupational Lung Disease Statistics 2025, HSE Silicosis Statistics 2025 and Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland.

What do we mean by dust?

Dust is not one substance. It is a broad term covering airborne solid particles produced by natural sources, materials and work activities.

The particles may be large enough to see, or so small that they remain invisible under normal lighting. Particle size matters because finer particles can travel further into the respiratory system. Fine particulate matter in outdoor air can also carry toxic material into the lungs and, in some cases, the bloodstream.

Different dusts create different health risks:

This is why dust should not be assessed by visibility alone. A dramatic dust cloud requires attention, but the absence of a visible plume does not prove that exposure is adequately controlled.

The wider burden of occupational lung disease

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that approximately 11,000 people die each year in Great Britain from lung diseases linked to past workplace exposures.

This total is not a dust-only statistic. It includes diseases associated with asbestos, dusts, fumes, gases, vapours and other occupational agents. However, it demonstrates the scale and long-term consequences of breathing contaminated air at work.

The same official statistics estimate that:

1. 49,000 people who worked during the previous 12 months currently have breathing or lung problems they believe were caused or made worse by work.
2. 135,000 people who have ever worked are currently living with a breathing or lung problem they associate with their work.
3. Approximately 22,000 new cases of work-related breathing or lung problems arise each year.
4. Carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to develop asthma than other UK workers.
5. Occupational asthma in agriculture occurs at approximately twice the national average, with grain dust among the relevant hazards.
6. Flour dust is one of the most common causes of occupational asthma in Great Britain.

Most occupational lung diseases have a long latency. This means they can take years or decades to develop. Current deaths may reflect working conditions from much earlier in a person’s career, while the consequences of exposure happening today may not become visible for many years.

Dust contributes to more than one disease

Silicosis is one of the well-known dust diseases, but it is not the only health outcome associated with dust exposure.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, is a serious long-term condition that restricts airflow through the lungs. It includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

HSE estimates that approximately 15% of COPD cases and deaths are attributable to workplace exposures, equivalent to around 4,000 deaths each year in Great Britain. Relevant exposures include silica, coal, grain, flour, cotton and wood dust, as well as welding fumes and certain chemicals.

In Northern Ireland, the separate workplace health estimate is 110 COPD deaths a year linked to past occupational exposure, with approximately 6,400 people estimated to have suffered from work-related COPD in 2023.

Occupational asthma

Dust can cause new occupational asthma or aggravate an existing condition. Once somebody becomes sensitised, even relatively small amounts of a substance may trigger symptoms.

HSE reports that:

These examples show why dust control is relevant far beyond construction and quarrying. It matters in manufacturing, food production, agriculture, woodworking, ports, waste handling and many other working environments.

Cancer

Certain dusts are carcinogenic. Hardwood dust can cause cancer of the nose, while heavy or prolonged exposure to respirable crystalline silica can cause lung cancer.

HSE estimates that past occupational exposure to silica contributes to nearly 800 lung cancer deaths per year in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland estimates a further 20 occupational silica-related lung cancer deaths annually in Northern Ireland.

These are modelled estimates of the burden attributable to past exposure. They should not be confused with deaths where silicosis itself is recorded as the underlying cause.

Silicosis: irreversible damage from respirable silica

Crystalline silica occurs naturally in stone, rock, sand and clay. It is also present in common construction materials.

Indicative silica content varies considerably:

When these materials are cut, drilled, ground, crushed, screened or otherwise disturbed, they can release respirable crystalline silica. These particles are fine enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and may be invisible under normal lighting.

In Great Britain, the workplace exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica is 0.1 milligrams per cubic metre as an eight-hour time-weighted average. This is a legal maximum, not a target. Because respirable crystalline silica is carcinogenic, exposure must be reduced as low as reasonably practicable. Read HSE’s silica risk guidance.

Long-term exposure can cause fibrosis, or permanent scarring of lung tissue. The resulting condition, silicosis, reduces lung function and can cause severe shortness of breath. It is irreversible, can continue to worsen after exposure stops and may be fatal.

The latest HSE silicosis statistics show that in Great Britain during 2024:

1. 40 new cases were assessed for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, compared with 35 in 2023 and an average of 27 a year from 2015 to 2019.
2. Specialist chest physicians identified an estimated 24 new cases, compared with 12 in 2023.
3. There were 12 deaths where silicosis was recorded as the underlying cause.
4. The average number of deaths directly recorded as silicosis was 12 a year during the ten years to 2024.

The benefit and physician figures come from different systems, may overlap and should not be added together. HSE also warns that both sources are likely to substantially underestimate the true incidence of silicosis.

A new concern: engineered stone

Silicosis has traditionally been associated with industries such as mining, quarrying, construction, foundries and stonework. Engineered stone has created a more recent source of concern.

By the end of 2024, 24 cases of silicosis attributed to engineered stone had been reported through the UK specialist physician network. Of these, 17 were reported in 2024, five in 2023 and two earlier cases were subsequently linked to engineered stone.

A peer-reviewed report examining the first eight UK cases found that all eight workers were men, their median age was only 34, and two had been referred for lung transplant assessment. It is a small clinical case series rather than a national estimate, but it demonstrates how serious disease can develop in relatively young workers. Read the Thorax case series.

In 2026, HSE launched a programme of more than 1,000 inspections of engineered stone businesses. Research supporting the campaign found that dry fabrication typically resulted in respirable crystalline silica exposure five to ten times higher than equivalent wet methods. Read about the HSE inspection programme. Northern Ireland also launched a coordinated silica inspection campaign focused on construction activities including cutting, drilling, grinding and demolition.

This is an important reminder that historic improvement does not mean the risk has disappeared. Changes in materials, processes and working practices can create new patterns of exposure.

Is the UK making progress?

There is encouraging evidence of long-term improvement, but the picture is not uniformly positive.

The good news

UK emissions of particulate matter have fallen substantially. According to the latest Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs statistics:

1. Annual PM10 emissions fell by 69% between 1990 and 2024.
2. Annual PM2.5 emissions fell by 75% between 1990 and 2024.
3. Between 2023 and 2024, PM10 emissions fell by a further 3% and PM2.5 emissions by 4%.

The rate of self-reported work-related breathing or lung problems among people who worked in the previous year has also reduced from around 200 cases per 100,000 workers in the early 2000s to approximately 140 per 100,000 in the latest three-year average.

Better process design, extraction, suppression, cleaner fuels, improved regulation and greater awareness have all helped show that exposure can be reduced.

The continuing challenge

Long-term reductions do not guarantee clean air under every condition.

In 2025, average PM2.5 concentrations increased by 12% at urban background monitoring sites and 14% at roadside sites compared with the unusually low levels recorded in 2024. Defra suggests that settled spring weather, which reduced the dispersion of pollution, was an important factor.

At work, HSE says that the annual rate of occupational asthma has been broadly constant since 2010. Silicosis benefit assessments increased to 40 cases in 2024, above the pre-pandemic average of 27 a year from 2015 to 2019. The emergence of engineered stone silicosis adds a further concern.

These trends reinforce three important points:

1. Weather and operating conditions can change dust risk quickly.
2. Long-latency diseases make current performance difficult to judge from health statistics alone.
3. Controls must be designed for the actual material, activity and exposure route, then checked to confirm that they continue to work.

What effective dust control looks like

Under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, employers must prevent exposure to hazardous substances where reasonably practicable or adequately control it where prevention is not possible.

HSE recommends an Assess, Control and Review approach.

1. Assess the risk

Identify:

1. The materials being handled and the hazardous components they may contain.
2. Activities that generate dust, including cleaning and maintenance.
3. Employees, contractors, visitors and neighbouring receptors who could be affected.
4. The duration, frequency and likely level of exposure.
5. Weather, traffic and production conditions that could increase emissions.
6. Existing controls, their limitations and what happens if they fail.

Visible observations are useful, but they may need to be supported by occupational exposure monitoring or environmental particulate monitoring.

2. Control dust through several layers

No single control is suitable for every source. A strong strategy normally considers the hierarchy of control:

1. Eliminate the dusty activity or substitute a safer material or process where possible.
2. Reduce the amount of cutting, grinding, handling or movement required.
3. Capture or suppress dust at the point where it is generated, using measures such as local exhaust ventilation, local water suppression or properly designed on-tool water suppression.
4. Enclose or segregate dusty processes and restrict access.
5. Use suitable cleaning methods, avoiding dry sweeping or compressed air where these would return settled dust to the air.
6. Control wider airborne and fugitive dust from crushing, screening, loading, stockpiles, haul roads and vehicle movements.
7. Provide suitable respiratory protective equipment where residual risk remains. Respiratory protection should not be the only control for a high-risk task.

3. Review performance

Controls should be inspected, maintained and tested. Sites should establish clear trigger levels and actions for dry weather, increased production, equipment failure, particulate exceedances and complaints.

Monitoring is most useful when it leads to action. Data should help the site confirm whether controls are working, identify changing conditions and provide evidence of responsible management.

Where Corgin fits into a layered dust-control strategy

Corgin helps construction, demolition, quarrying, waste, recycling, ports and industrial sites control airborne and fugitive dust.

Our role sits within a broader dust-management strategy. Task-level controls such as local extraction, on-tool suppression, suitable respiratory protective equipment, personal exposure monitoring and health surveillance remain essential where the risk assessment requires them.

Different site sources require different solutions:

1. Mobile MistCannon units can help suppress larger airborne dust plumes from activities such as crushing, screening, demolition and earthworks.
2. DustLayer units provide more localised suppression around tipping, loading and material transfer.
3. Installed MistCannons & Atomister systems provide consistent, targeted control at fixed process and transfer points.
4. DustFast controls surface dust from haul roads, compounds and unsurfaced traffic routes without repeated water-bowser applications.

Many sites benefit from a combined approach because the controls required for a crusher, a transfer point and a haul road are not the same. Equipment selection should take account of the source, material, particle characteristics, location, weather, site layout, available water and power, and the need for mobility.

The aim is not simply to make a dust cloud less visible. It is to understand where dust is generated, reduce the amount that becomes airborne and confirm that the overall control strategy is suitable for the risk.

Cleaner air starts with practical action

The UK has made significant progress in reducing particulate emissions, but dust-related disease remains a substantial and often underestimated health burden.

The most effective action starts before dust reaches the air. It combines prevention, source control, wider site suppression, good housekeeping, monitoring, maintenance, training and health protection.

For organisations managing dust from haul roads, crushing, screening, demolition, loading, stockpiles or fixed processes, Corgin can help assess the source and identify an appropriate mobile, installed or surface-based dust suppression approach.

Explore Corgin’s dust suppression solution finder or speak to our team about the dust challenges on your site.