A Survey of Dust Concentrations in Flax Mills in Northern Ireland

McAulay, I.R.; Carey, G. C. R.; Merrett, J. D.; McClarin, R. H.; Elwood, Peter Creighton; Pemberton, John

doi:10.1136/oem.22.4.305

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…This is perhaps surprising as the dust concentrations generated in the early stages of flax preparing are very high indeed. 6 The evidence relating to the mortality of workers who had had byssinosis at the time of the original survey is much more difficult to interpret. The association between the occurrence of byssinosis and smoking habit is apparent in table 2, which shows that of workers without byssinosis (grade 0) 64% of men and 28 % of women are smokers, whereas of the byssinotic workers 800% of men and 46 % of the women smoked.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality of flax workers.

Elwood¹,

Thomas²,

Sweetnam³

et al. 1982

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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A total of 2528 workers in flax mills in Northern Ireland were followed up for 16 years.Follow-up was 97o% complete. Deaths were identified and date and cause ascertained. Expected deaths were calculated on the basis of age and sex specific rates for Northern Ireland. Both male and female workers had fewer deaths than expected, and mortality showed no clear relationship with type of work. There was a small excess in the mortality of workers who had had byssinosis at the time of the original survey, but there was no evidence that the more severe grades of byssinosis were associated with higher mortality than the less severe grades. Workers who smoke are known to have an increased risk of developing byssinosis, and cigarette smoking may be responsible for most of the excess deaths in the workers with byssinosis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality of flax workers.

Elwood¹,

Thomas²,

Sweetnam³

et al. 1982

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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The Flax Industry in Northern Ireland Twenty Years On

1982

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Prevalence of Byssinosis and Dust Levels in Flax Preparers in Northern Ireland

Elwood

McAulay

McLarin

et al. 1966

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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The association between the prevalence of both byssinosis and chronic bronchitis and the level of airborne dust was examined in workers in preparing departments in flax mills in Northern Ireland. A weak association between the dust level and byssinosis was found but not between the dust level and chronic bronchitis. It is suggested that the disparity of these associations may have arisen because the diagnosis of byssinosis, as in most recent published studies, was based on relatively acute and reversible symptoms which are more likely to be closely related to the current dust levels than the slowly developing symptoms on which the diagnosis of chronic bronchitis was based. Furthermore an association between chronic bronchitis and the dust levels is likely to be obscured to some extent by the effects of other non-industrial respiratory irritants such as tobacco smoke. Some discussed. An association between the concentration of airborne dust in the working environment and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in textile workers has been found by various authors (Roach and Schilling, I960; Mair, Smith, Wilson, and Lockhart, I960; Bouhuys, Van Duyn, and Van Lennep, I96I). Most writers have noted that it is workers in the early preparing textile processes who appear to be at the greatest risk of developing byssinosis, and it is these workers who are usually exposed to the highest levels of airborne dust. Within cotton carding rooms the proximity of workers to carding engines has been shown to be associated with the degree to which they suffer from ill health in general (Home Office, 1932) and byssinosis in particular (Schilling, Hughes, Dingwall-Fordyce, and Gilson, I955). Roach and Schilling (I960) attempted to derive a quantitative relationship between the prevalence of byssinosis and the level of airborne dust in five selected Lancashire cotton mills. They correlated the prevalence of byssinosis in 309 workers in I0 groups defined by workroom , or type of room, with the mean level of airborne dust in these rooms at the times of the study. Batawi, Schilling, Vali6, and

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A Survey of Dust Concentrations in Flax Mills in Northern Ireland

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Mortality of flax workers.

Mortality of flax workers.

The Flax Industry in Northern Ireland Twenty Years On

Prevalence of Byssinosis and Dust Levels in Flax Preparers in Northern Ireland

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