Inhalable wood dust: Risk assessment of Occupational exposure

Background and Purpose: Wood dust have been approved as a harmful and carcinogenic agent for humans. This study aimed to evaluate risk assessment of Workers' exposure to inhalable wood dust among 100 workers in 25 furniture manufacturing workshops in one of the northern cities in Iran. Materials and Methods: NIOSH0501 method was used to assess the occupational exposure to Inhalable wood dust and Semi-quantitative risk assessment method recommended by Singapore Department of Occupational Health was used to assess risk level of occupational exposure. Airborne particles were collected from the workers' breathing zone using calibrated personal sampler pump and a PVC filter with a 25 mm diameter, 5 µm pore size embedded inside an IOM Sampler. Results: The mean occupational exposure to inhalable wood dust among all exposed workers was found to be 22.3 ± 6.9 (Mean ± SD) mg.m-3. The risk level of workers' exposure to inhalable wood dust was also documented to be in medium level in all workshops. In addition, the researchers found that among environmental variables, the door area of workshops was the most effective predictor variable to predict variations of workers' exposure to inhalable wood dust (ADJ.R2=0.113, R2=0.122, p<0.001). Conclusion: Exposure to inhalable wood dust was several times higher than the OEL of Iran and TLV recommended by ACGIH. Since the risk level of workers' exposure to inhalable wood dust was in medium level, their health could be threatened by prolonged exposure. Therefore, technical-engineering and managerial controls seemed to be necessary.