Is Grain Dust Making You Sick?
The 2009 harvest hasn’t been an easy one. Mold and mold spores are more prevalent this year but are they making you sick?
Grain dust is a mixture of organic and inorganic particles. This mixture commonly includes plant material, bacteria, soil, mold and mold spores, insect parts and excereta, and endotoxins. When you breath in grain dust some of the particles can make their way into your respiratory system and have an adversely effect your health.
While you’re operating the combine, unloading the grain wagon, or working around the drying area and bins; you’ll have some level of exposure to grain dusts. How your body reacts to the exposure can vary from mild to severe. Conditions that you could experience include bronchitis, farmer’s lung or ODTS.
Controlling Exposure Risks
Grain dust exposure and the associated problems and health symptoms are complex. Here are some specific things you can do to control your risk:
- Have the correct and clean air filter in place when operating the combine. Use the appropriate setting on the blower in the cab whether you are using the heater or A/C. This will minimize dust concentrations in the cab. When replacing filters, make sure all gaskets are intact and that the air is being well-filtered.
- Avoid direct exposures to dust whenever possible, regardless of your sensitivity. Stay in the cab when unloading. Use the wind to your advantage rather that standing directly in a cloud of dust any time grain is being moved.
- Properly adjust your combine to minimize grain damage. This will help to also minimize the amount of dust being generated.
- Wear a NIOSH-approved and certified “N-95” dust mask (respirator) that fits you properly. Especially, if you find yourself working in a very dusty situation that cannot be avoided. CAUTION: Wear a respirator only if you are free of health problems, particularly with your heart and lungs. Respirators are only effective if you are cleanly shaven. Local health professionals can be a great source of information and can recommend the type of respirator that can be safely worn. If you work in a facility where worker safety regulations for respiratory protection apply (such as a grain elevator or feed mill), there are other regulatory requirements before a dust mask can be worn by workers.
- Avoid dust exposure if you have any chronic respiratory health issues, including asthma, previous experience with FHP, or existing respiratory infections or conditions. Individuals who have these conditions should be alert for symptoms, even when working in a relatively clean environment like the cab of a combine, and should minimize their exposure to dust.
- If feeling sick, call your health care provider. If you find yourself working in a very dusty situation (like loading or cleaning out a bin or getting a heavy, prolonged exposure near a combine in the field) and end up feeling sick a few hours later, call for medical advice. Again, your problem may be a condition like ODTS or FHP, but you may also have influenza or another illness.
- Smoking tends to make any type of symptoms or reaction caused by dust exposure much worse. Realize that smoking increases the risk of developing respiratory diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
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