The UK government classified formaldehyde as a carcinogen in 2016, prompting industry to observe restrictions on its use, and West Fraser is one company that has gone above and beyond to reduce the chemical compound’s impact on the built environment and building occupants, who cannot normally know it is present.
Anomalies regarding its use remain, such as the ‘caged salmon industry’ being permitted to employ the chemical as a disinfectant. It was also once favoured in the NHS for sterilising soft instruments such as arthroscopes. Statistics for formaldehyde’s full impact on health outcomes are unclear, but caution is definitely the wise option.
This is because we do know of formaldehyde’s dangers not only as a carcinogen, but an acute respiratory irritant and being highly corrosive to skin. In the home, it has long been found in materials like plywood, panelling, adhesives and foam insulation. Surprisingly, shampoo, skin lotions, and even baby washing products have been shown to contain it; while the emissions from gas hobs, fabrics and floorcoverings all emit it.
It is inevitable that particleboard and plywood are listed as in fact, formaldehyde occurs naturally in trees: so, there is no such thing as formaldehyde-free wood products. The crucial issue is what the concentration rises to when wood is processed.
Currently, the HSE directs that the workplace exposure limit (WEL) for formaldehyde should not exceed two parts per million (2.0 ppm) as a time weighted average over an eight-hour period. Beloved as a symbol of the English countryside, an oak tree, emits just 0.009 parts per million (ppm) of formaldehyde in its natural form.
Unfortunately, the amount of formaldehyde present increases during the processing of wood into wood-based panels – unless, that is, they are sourced from West Fraser, as a specialist which has developed a methodology which results in there being no added formaldehyde introduced during the manufacturing process. And it is this fact which enables the company to claim that it produces “the only UK-manufactured OSB With Zero-Added Formaldehyde.”
Hence, we see panel products with appellatives such as SterlingOSB Zero, SterlingOSB Zero OSB3, SterlingOSB Zero Tongue & Groove, and SterlingOSB Zero PrimedPlus being utilised across construction, including by housebuilding, commercial development and by offsite specialists as well as fabricators generally. So, it makes sense when one sees all the everyday fixtures and fittings within the buildings where we live and work, containing elevated amounts of formaldehyde, to take the opportunity to minimize its presence wherever possible. And an opportunity to do this is by specifying panels with the lowest of emissions.
All West Fraser panel products produced in the UK are net carbon negative and manufactured in mills that have obtained the coveted environmental ISO 14001 accreditation. Responsibly sourced, the panels are FSC® certified (C012533) and created from locally grown timber, cutting embodied carbon from transportation.
For further information, call 01786 812 921 or visit https://uk.westfraser.com/
