Dusts are particles in the air which arise from the environment or which are produced from industrial or other occupational processes. A typical example of occupational dust is wood dust which is generated where wood fixtures and fittings are cut with drills, saws, or shaped with planes, resulting in the agitation of wood fibers that may be carried as the air of the environment is agitated or which may be disturbed if the surface upon which they have settled is otherwise upset. Dusts are airborne or otherwise aerosolisable particles, and may be large or small as well as being conveyable shorter or longer distances depending on the aerodynamic properties of those particles. Large particles are visible to the naked eye and can alter the appearances of surfaces. Small particles may disperse into fine clouds like talc or may be entirely invisible
Dusts are a common occupational hazard because many occupational processes and environments generate dusts. Office environments typically accumulate dusts in areas of stagnant airflow which allow hair, lint, and dead skin to accumulate. Industrial and construction environments generate dusts whose composition depends on the material being worked and if those dusts are indoors or outdoors, and which may be conveyed by airflow. Large particles of dust may not be carried very far through the air and may settle to the ground owing to their weight and their lack of aerodynamicism. Smaller particles, being lighter and thus more transportable, may be carried further and, in specific circumstances, be inhaled by a worker.
You know you've inhaled environmental dust if you can pick your nose and get a black booger, which also happens to have been my nickname in primary school. Dusts that are taken into the respiratory tract as part of a breath may be divided into inhalable and respirable dusts. Inhalable dusts are those who by virtue of their size and particle behaviour may be captured by the sinus and the mucous of the nose, giving rise to darker or thicker nose discharge or even watering of the nose itself. Inhalable dust may also be captured by the mucous and cilia of the airways and coughed back out as particularly foul-tasting sputum. Dust of appropriate size and behaviour can fall through the airways of the nose and throat and settle into the lungs, and dust of particular smallness can be transferred from the lungs into the bloodstream. Dust that can settle into the lungs is called respirable dust, and respiration of dust can give rise to occupational lung diseases like pneumoconioses and black lung, or of fibrotic irritation of the lung tissue as is in the case of mesothelioma and silicoses.
The health effect experienced by a worker following sustained exposure to occupational dusts of sufficient concentration to cause harm will depend on the properties of the dust and the vulnerabilities of the worker. Wood dusts can cause irritation when they land on the skin as well as pulmonary inflammation if they are inhaled. Coal and mineral dusts can cause irritation, inflammation, and breakdown of lung tissue owing to recurrent cellular immune responses. Welding fumes such as hexavalent chromium can not only be inhaled but are so carcinogenic that exposure to welding fumes holds a higher correlation to the development of occupational cancers than smoking.
Dusts are raised from virtually every occupational process and are a ubiquitous element of the external environment. The action of tools, processes, and plant on substrates generates concentrations of particles whose management must be undertaken in line with the Hierarchy of Controls to minimise the risk to which workers are exposed. Elimination of the process may require work transformation and may not be appropriate in the case of small business, however in cases of cabinetry or form work, required materials may be assembled by machines or automata. Substitution may be applied by exchanging the worked material for non-aerosolisable or less-aerosolisable substrates or by engineering a ventilation solution to capture and contain hazardous dusts before they can become locally airborne. Lastly, administration and PPE can be used to control those risks that remain following implementation of higher-order controls, but only following a practicability assessment.
Each workplace is different, with different demands, methods of business, and is staffed by people whose capacities, needs, and risk profiles are different. Managing ergonomic, environmental, and occupational health and safety challenges requires a business to examine and engage with the ecosystem of factors that give rise to risk, and how that risk may affect people. Each workplace is different and so sometimes the same problem will require different solutions. This applies to workers as well - every person is different and so may require different support, supervision, or resources to perform comfortably and sustainably. Under Work Health and Safety law, consultation with the workforce, the control of risk as far as is reasonably practicable, and the provision of information, training, instruction and support to the worker by the workplace, is essential to meet obligations to provide workers with a workplace that is as free of risk as far is reasonably practicable.
In our capacity as consultants, Atlas Physio will explore and scope the business and its needs, examining how exposures, risks, and processes contribute to the hazard ecosystem, best inform the design and arrangement of procedural, policy-based, and practical risk controls. Our solutions are tailored to the needs of those with whom we work, implemented in a simple, sustainable, and supportive fashion, designed to be robust and resilient, and to support the ongoing life of the business as well as the sustainable wellbeing of the workers who undertake the day to day activities of work.
At Atlas Physio, we provide reporting, structured control, and ongoing management of risk onsite, on the road, and wherever work is done. We are open seven days a week, and are happy to offer a brief complimentary discussion to explore the needs of your business and your workers if you are an employer, and your needs if you are a worker. Reach out today to arrange a discussion and take the first step toward managing risk and working safely, supported by expertise that is practical, reliable, and designed to deliver lasting results.