Earlier this week, the Daily Mail reported that funeral directors may be at increased risk of developing motor neurone disease (MND) if they work with formaldehyde. This news was based on a recent American study, which found that "men* in jobs with high probability of exposure versus no formaldehyde exposure had an almost three times greater rate of mortality from motor neurone disease".
Funeral directors sometimes use formaldehyde to embalm dead bodies (an increasingly popular option amongst grieving families who wish to view the deceased in a chapel of rest), but use of this chemical is carefully regulated - this report isn't the first to link formaldehyde to nerve damage. The aforementiond Mail article features a quote from Alan Slater, CEO of the National Association of Funeral Directors, who made it clear that health and safety guidelines are crucial for the protection of funeral directors who use formaldehyde; Slater specifically cited "the use of appropriate protective clothing and equipment" as an important factor, along with "a strict adherence to manufacturers' instructions".
Here at Label Source, we sell a wide range of products that can be used to minimise risk when using such hazardous chemicals as formaldehyde. Our COSHH signs remind employees to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and observe the relevant precautions, while our UN labels should be used to identify hazardous substances when in transit.
Visit our Hazardous Substances & Chemicals department to browse Label Source's full range of chemical hazard products.
*The same results were not observed in women, but according to the Mail article, "this could be because the amount of women in the study with exposure to high levels of formaldehyde was too small".
