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Abstract
Background: Little is known about the potential for overexposure to respirable quartz in farming, in most parts of the world.
Objectives: To measure respirable dust and quartz exposure of tractor operators on two medium-sized dry climate farms.
Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of dust exposure of four tractor operators. Farms were selected by convenience sampling. The MDHS 14/3 and FTIR MDHS 101 HSE methods were used to measure dust and to analyze the mass of quartz in dust, respectively.
Results: Seventy respirable dust measurements were done. Respirable dust and quartz ranged from 0·01 to 2·88 and 0·001 to 0·30 mg/m3, respectively. All operators had at least one respirable quartz exposure above 0·1 mg/m3. Only 17% of respirable quartz concentrations were lower than the ACGIH TLV of 0·025 mg/m3.
Conclusion: The potential for overexposure to respirable quartz was demonstrated. There was a great deal of exposure variability on these farms which has implications for sampling strategies for dust in farming.
This study was supported and motivated by the Fogarty International Center, International Training and Research Program on Environmental and Occupational Health (FIC-ITREOH/SADC) and technically assisted by the National Institute for Occupational Health, Johannesburg, Division of Occupational Hygiene. The work done should be attributed to the University of the Witwatersrand, School of Public Health.
Discloure: The authors declare that there is no kind of conflict of interest that should be anticipated and notified.