Woodworkers and spray painters are in the top eight occupations where people are likely to suffer from work-related asthma.
Now the Health and Safety Commission is to introduce an Approved Code of Practice which aims to cut occupational asthma by 30% over the next nine years.
The Health and Safety Executive estimates that between 1,500-3,000 people a year in Great Britain develop occupational asthma which, it says, leaves some so disabled they cannot work again. The costs of new cases of the disease over the next 10 years are estimated to be between £579m-1.159bn.
The action plan should be published next spring, followed by an Approved Code of Practice explaining how employers can comply with the law.
