Premium
Bioaerosol in Composting Facilities: Occupational Health Risk Assessment
Author(s) -
Schlosser Olivier,
Huyard Alain,
Cartnick Keith,
Yañez Adela,
Catalán Vicente,
Do Quang Zdravka
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143009x407258
Subject(s) - indoor bioaerosol , bioaerosol , environmental health , personal protective equipment , occupational exposure , occupational hygiene , occupational safety and health , hazardous waste , medicine , waste management , covid-19 , engineering , biology , ecology , physics , aerosol , disease , pathology , meteorology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This research found evidence of an association between occupational exposure to bioaerosols in composting plants and health outcome occurrence in exposed workers. An occupational exposure assessment in six composting plants was performed to better characterize personal exposure levels and evaluate associated health risk in workers. Sampling results showed large ranges of concentrations of dust, bacteria, molds, and endotoxin in ambient air and in personal samples, both when driving a front‐end loader and when cleaning, monitoring, and performing maintenance tasks. Mean personal exposure levels were high at 100 to more than 10 000 times higher than outdoor background levels and fully consistent with occurrence of inflammatory and allergic respiratory outcomes among workers. Engineering control, personal protection, and education and training programs for employees, health, and safety officials, and occupational physicians are being developed and implemented.