Workers who are exposed to Portland cement and products containing Portland cement can get occupational skin diseases.  Due to the cement's abrasive, alkalinic, and hygroscopic (drawing moisture from the skin) properties, the occupational skin diseases may include irritant contact dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis (from sensitizers such as hexavalent chromium) and caustic burns.  Good work practices while handling cement can reduce those health and injury risks.

Wet Cement is caustic and contains chromium which is a skin sensitizer.  The effect is only felt over time (hours to years).  Protective clothing keeps cement and contaminated water away from the skin.  By keeping the skin intact and balancing the PH, any caustic effect can be minimized.  Removing dirt and jewelry keep cement from being trapped against the skin.

• Safety and health experts believe there is a risk reduction.

It is self-evident that contact dermatitis will be prevented if skin does not come in contact with portland cement.  Skin protection programs have been evaluated for effectiveness in other industries and shown to be effective.  No specific evaluation has been made of the skin protection program recommended here for construction workers.  However, safety and heatlh experts believe that applying the same principles demonstrated to be effective in other industries will be effective in construction. 

• Safety and health experts believe there is an increase in productivity.

At the link in the Return on Investment field, you can access a report entitled The Economics of Intervention: Protecting Workers Who Come in Contact with Wet Portland Cement.  Based on the studies summarized in this paper, an estimated 1,700 to 8,500 cases of cement-related dermatitis occur each year, with 1,100 to 5,300 workers at risk of allergic dermatitis. Many workers stay on the job while suffering from skin diseases, but when the disease becomes severe and they do lose work time, the time lost is likely to be longer than the typical lost time episode for a construction worker generally, which is three days. Based on published data, this report estimates that lost work days associated with an incident of occupational dermatitis typically range from 4 days to 13 days. 

Frequent hand washing is a simple and cost-efficient way to prevent contact dermatitis for construction workers exposed to wet Portland cement. The disease costs workers, insurers, and the government between $135 million and $679 million per year. By contrast, in addition to sparing workers the suffering associated with the disease, it would cost less than $1.5 million to prevent these illnesses. In purely economic terms $90 to $450 would be saved for every dollar spent. 

A detailed analysis of costs and ROI is presented in The Economics of Intervention: Protecting Workers Who Come in Contact with Wet Portland Cement.  A variety of possible illness scenarios, developed in this paper, shows individual costs, once a dermatitis illness requires medical attention, range anywhere from $110 to $43,000 a year – in a combination of medical costs, other out-of-pocket expenses, and foregone wages. The cost to government and Workers’ Compensation systems, in these scenarios, is anywhere from zero to $37,000 per case per year. These costs include, where applicable, Workers’ Compensation medical coverage, Workers’ Compensation cash payments, Unemployment Insurance, food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments, and job retraining. 

Although this report focuses on the overall costs of contact dermatitis from cement, the detailed tables would allow you to estimate the costs to the employer in workers' compensation costs, loss of productivity, and costs for re-training.

Cost Benefit Preventing Skin Contact Portland Cement

CPWR has published a complete guide to protect workers from cement.