Harmful levels of formaldehyde ‘risking health’ of NHS staff 

Getty/Igor Suka

By Olivia Bowthorpe

Thousands of NHS pathology workers, including doctors, may be exposed to potentially harmful levels of formaldehyde, according to research.

Over 1.7 million formaldehyde monitoring results from 117 NHS cell pathology departments across the UK were analysed.

Exposure was found to be inconsistently monitored and often exceeded EU safety limits.

The “dilapidated” nature of many NHS buildings is likely to contribute to poor ventilation, researchers said.

"Our data provide evidence that NHS staff are being exposed to airborne concentrations associated with deleterious health effects," the team reported in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Dr Magdalena Plesa, lecturer at the University of Liverpool Management School, and colleagues called for "urgent regulatory intervention to proactively protect the health of people working with formaldehyde".

Formaldehyde is commonly used in pathology laboratories to preserve tissue samples, and is a known carcinogen. It is also linked to respiratory problems, reproductive effects and damage to the nervous system.