FORESDA - Wood Dust Exposure and Energy Efficiency - The Campaign Continues!

24-05-2019

On Wednesday 22nd of May, a workshop about risks of being exposed to the wood dust was organized in City of Virovitica (Croatia), in the Pannon Wood Competence Centre. The workshop was organized by Croatian Wood Cluster within the framework of FORESDA activities related to the pilot project Energy efficiency for Workplace safety. The aim of the pilot is to encourage employers to modernize the wood dust collection systems in order to contribute to the workplace health and safety environment. In addition, at the same time, they will manage to achieve savings on electricity because according to the recent studies, it is possible to save up to 30 percent of the electricity by installing modern systems.  Namely, when the dust is inhaled, it is deposited in the nose, throat, and other airways. Strong and consistent associations with cancers of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity have been observed both in studies of people whose occupations were associated with wood-dust exposure and in studies that directly estimated wood-dust exposure. This is the reason why the pilot project also encourages awareness of the importance of using protective equipment among employees. The participants of the workshop evaluated the project and showed interest to continue with it after the end of FORESDA in June because energy efficiency in the industrial facilities and workplace safety are among the biggest challenges of the woodworking industry in Croatia but also in the whole Southeast European Region. 

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)