Flour dust | Health and Safety Executive

What is flour?

Flour is a key ingredient in many recipes and is used to make a variety of foods, including, different types of breads, cakes and pastries as well as being used to thicken sauces and make batter.

Flour is produced when grains, such as wheat, are ground into a fine powder in a process known as milling.

What are the health effects of working with flour?

Exposure to flour can cause serious health problems such as occupational asthma. Thousands of people in the UK and Ireland face the challenges of this disease every day. There are different types of asthma including:

allergic
non-allergic
occupational

Work-related asthma statistics 2024 produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE (GB)) estimate that anywhere between 9-15% of all adult asthma cases can be linked to work.

Symptoms of occupational asthma include:

wheezing
coughing
chest tightness
severe shortness of breath that can stop you from doing the simplest of tasks

Some sufferers may be unable to work due to the severity of their condition and in extreme cases, an attack can prove fatal.

As flour dust is a respiratory sensitiser, it can cause asthma when it is breathed in.

Occupational asthma accounts for approximately 33%* of food industry compensation cases under the Department of Work and Pensions Industrial Injuries Scheme.
*Source - HSE (GB) Occupational ill health - (hse.gov.uk)

HSE(GB) work-related asthma statistics 2024 indicate that flour dust and enzymes containing additives, such as amylase, are the second most common cause of occupational asthma.

Exposure to flour dust can also cause:

conjunctivitis - irritation to the eyes resulting in watering, painful eyes
rhinitis - irritation to the nose resulting in a runny nose
occupational dermatitis - resulting in redness, itching and blistering of the skin

The risk from exposure

Am I at risk?

The dust produced whilst working with flour is a hazardous substance as defined under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (NI) 2003 (COSHH NI). A link to these Regulations is provided below:

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 - (legislation.gov.uk)

Flour dust and enzymes containing additives, such as amylase, are one of the most common causes of occupational asthma in kitchens, bakeries and milling industries.

In workplaces, the following circumstances may lead to unnecessary exposure to flour dust:

bag emptying
sieving
weighing
mixing
dough making
dusting
disposing of empty flour bags
sweeping up flour
cleaning

How do I control the risk?

Flour is a respiratory sensitiser, and under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, (COSHH NI) and the associated HSE (GB) Approved Code of Practice and guidance (ACOP) publication L5, exposure to flour dust must be prevented or adequately controlled.

When using flour, you should first consider if it is possible to complete the task without creating risks to your health.

The COSHH Hierarchy of Control should be applied when managing the risks from flour dust:

elimination - physically remove the hazard
substitution - replace the hazard (use low dust flour)
engineering controls - separate employees from the hazard
administrative controls - change the way people work
Personal Protective Equipment / Respiratory Protective Equipment -protect the worker with personal protective equipment

Key controls include:

using safer alternatives to flour such as baking improvers in liquid, paste or low dust form and low dust flour
enclose processes as much as possible to stop flour dust escaping and spreading around the workplace
use mixers with lids, where possible
provide Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV)
keep machinery and equipment containing flour or dusty mixtures away from doors and windows
ensure employees do not crush bags containing residue of flour
provide suitable Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
clean up areas by using a vacuum - do not dry brush or blow down equipment with compressed air

HSE (GB) have outlined specific controls and techniques that can be utilised by bakers and millers to control the risk of exposure to flour dust. Access to this information is available via the following link:

Flour (Bakers and millers) - COSHH e-tool - (hse.gov.uk)

Exposure limits and Health Surveillance

Flour dust is an asthmagen and exposure should therefore be reduced to below the workplace exposure limit (WEL) as prescribed within HSE (GB) EH40 publication, to as low as is reasonably practicable:

EH40/2005 Workplace exposure limits - (hse.gov.uk)

By adopting good control practice, HSENI considers that a WEL less than 2mg/m3 (averaged over eight hours) is achievable.

Health surveillance is required to be undertaken by a competent medical professional. The purpose of health surveillance is to check if controls are working and being used properly. HSE (GB) G402 publication provides further guidance:

G402 Health surveillance for occupational asthma - (hse.gov.uk)

Resources

Please note HSENI is not responsible for, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of information on sites that it does not manage; and the use of a hyperlink does not mean HSENI endorses the linked site.

Key legislation

Please note that these links are to the original legislation, visitors should verify for themselves whether legislation is in force or whether it has been amended or repealed by subsequent legislation.