Shane Osborn is an unusual chef - and not because of the remarkable dishes he prepares at his Pied à Terre restaurant in London. He has achieved his strange status by becoming allergic to food.
Aubergines, lemons, limes, mushrooms, red wine, fish - all trigger anaphylactic shocks in the Michelin-starred chef. Just touching fish or sniffing a citrus fruit causes his throat to swell. Within minutes he is choking and spluttering.
His condition, which has developed slowly over the past four years, has turned Osborn's place of work into a minefield of misery. 'I've had to completely rethink the way I work,' said the Australian-born chef.
Nor is Osborn alone. A growing number of people are experiencing the ultimate workplace misery - they have become allergic to their occupation. Nurses are suffering severe reactions to the latex gloves they have to wear; garage workers are getting sick because they are exposed to isocyanates in spray paints; and hairdressers are being afflicted with dermatitis.
A survey by NOP recently revealed that four out of 10 office workers suffer headaches, lethargy, breathing problems and itchy skin because of work allergies. Even St Paul's Cathedral has been blamed for making its staff sick. Workers said a cleaning paste that was sprayed on to stonework was making them ill, though managers denied the charge.
The problem is getting worse, say doctors. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now launched a major campaign in a bid to reduce occupational asthma by a third by the end of the decade, according to A magazine for allergy sufferers. The TUC has also launched training courses to reduce the problem.
Nurse Alison Dugmore, who worked in an intensive care unit at a Swansea hospital, suffered anaphylactic shock six years ago because her colleagues were using powdered latex gloves - one of the major causes of occupational allergies in Britain. She had to give up nursing and has suffered health problems ever since. 'The skin on my face and chest had come off and I looked like a burn victim,' she said. She is now awaiting a compensation settlement from Swansea NHS Trust.
In the past many cases of occupational allergy were linked to two prime causes: workers involved in the manufacture of detergents, and doctors, nurses and other health workers using latex gloves. Both problems have slowly been eradicated - only to be replaced by new sources of allergy.
'Today the principal source of occupational asthma cases is the isocyanate paints that are used to spray cars,' said Professor Anthony Newman-Taylor of the Brompton Hospital, London.
Isocyanates are small molecules that form large, complex chemicals when mixed with other substances. In the respiratory tract they form new chemicals that trigger an immune attack which can spread and have severe effects. Controlling the use of paints containing isocyanates is now a major health problem.
Newman-Taylor pointed out that most workplaces in which car spraying is done are small garages that are under only limited HSE supervision. 'In the past, major employers like the NHS and major chemical companies were the organisations responsible for most cases,' he said. 'These new cases are going to be harder to trace and deal with.'
The depth of the problem was also stressed by the HSE. 'Asthma has the potential to ruin lives,' said one official. 'Some sufferers cannot work again and others may have to change jobs to avoid exposure to the substance that caused the asthma. They may no longer be able to use their spe cialist skills and may face a restricted lifestyle.'
Apart from isocyanates in paints, the principal sources of occupational allergies and asthma are flour and grain dust in bakeries; chemicals used in leather tanning and paper-making; wood dust in building sites and sawmills; latex among lab technicians, doctors and nurses wearing protective gloves; solder used by welders and electricians; and animals used by lab technicians and scientists.
Many of those affected get little sympathy from their employers. Worried about potential compensation claims, they refuse to acknowledge the problem, even though simple measures - installing ventilators or relocating a worker - could solve the difficulties. 'Often sufferers find they're the first out when it comes to redundancies,' said Hugh Robert son, head of health and safety for the TUC.
Yet some employers are sympathetic, as illustrated by the story of joiner Eric Beeton who started a new job - and discovered he was allergic to wood. 'One day at work my lungs just seemed to shut down and I couldn't get any breath,' he said.
The asthma was triggered by one particular type of wood, Canadian Red Cedar. He tried a respirator while working but because he was reacting to cedar vapour, this was little help. In the end the problem was solved by Beeton's employer, who agreed to stop using cedar. His health has now improved significantly. 'I was happy to keep my job, though I'm sure some people are not so fortunate.'
