Relationship between employees’ perception of airborne wood dust and ventilation applications in micro-scale enterprises producing furniture

Abstract

Excessive inhalation of airborne wood dust has a negative impact on employees’ health and is a common issue. There are available hazard control methods to protect workers from exposure to airborne wood dust. These methods include ventilation of the workplace and the use of personal protective equipment against dust. In this study, micro-scale furniture manufacturing enterprises were investigated because the sector and the scale of the enterprise are among the factors affecting the exposure to dust. A structured questionnaire was conducted by face-to-face interview method in this study. In addition, workplaces and working conditions of 53 enterprises were observed during on-site visits to conduct the questionnaires. The relationship between categorical variables was investigated using the Chi-square test. Among the interviewed employees, 9.4% were not concerned about the harmful impact of solid wood dust on health. The least used ventilation method was local exhaust ventilation, and at any interviewed site the occupational exposure limit value to dust was unknown. Medium density fibreboard was the most preferred raw material. Because wood dust was generally underestimated as an occupational health risk factor, this study concludes that ventilation applications that reduce exposure to dust were also insufficient.

Wood dust and asthma

“…Inadequate control measures such as poor connections between extraction hoods and circular saw also result in insufficient removal of fine and light dust particulate [23]. An Iranian study of 25 furniture manufacturing workshops, demonstrated workshop size and window/door area was associated with higher dust levels [24].…”

“…Awoke et al [10] also demonstrated that wood workers with no occupational health and safety training were more likely (OR ¼ 3.38, 95% CI 1.20-9.49) to have chronic respiratory symptoms. A recent study by Top et al suggested that factors such as employees' perception of health risks associated with wood dust, knowledge of tasks generating wood dust, dust exposure limits and safe work practices impacted on the use of ventilation systems [23].…”