Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of their employees and anyone else affected by their work activities. In the case of chemicals, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2677) apply. The Regulations implement the health requirements of an EC Directive, known as the Chemical Agents Directive (98/24/EC), which establishes minimum requirements for the protection of workers’ health and safety from the presence or use of hazardous chemical agents.

Basically the employer has to do all that is reasonable to prevent workers contracting contact or any other type of industrial dermatitis. If the employer does not comply with the law then an affected person has a right to make a claim for compensation.

Key Issues
- Skin disease affects people in nearly all industries. In 2001/02, HSE estimated that 39 000 people in Great Britain were suffering from skin disease caused or made worse by their current or past work. An estimated average of 3900 new cases of work related skin disease were diagnosed each year between 2000 and 2002 by specialist physicians, of which approximately 80% were contact dermatitis. Commonly implicated agents include latex/rubber, soaps and cleaners, chromates and wet work.
- Exposure of the skin to certain substances can cause the skin to crack and bleed. How quickly skin disease develops depends on the strength of the substance and how long/how often it touches the skin. It can be very painful and can damage both work and social life.
- With a little care, most cases of dermatitis can be prevented.
- Too much sunlight can also be harmful to the skin. This is particularly important for workers with jobs that keep them outdoors for a long time. More information on those workers who could be at risk, the health problems caused by too much sunlight and what can be done to protect workers from the harmful effects of the sun, can be found in the free leaflets above.

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