Workplace Exposures Can Generate Breathing Hazards
Workers are exposed to a wide variety of airborne contaminants on the job such as dusts, welding fumes, gases, solvent vapors and mists. If present in large enough amounts, these contaminants can be breathing hazards. Inhaling dirty workroom air can irritate the respiratory system and cause sneezing, coughing, chest tightness or difficulty in breathing. Prolonged exposure over months or years can lead to chronic long-term lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and asbestosis. To prevent symptoms from starting and lung diseases from developing, exposure to airborne contaminants must be reduced or eliminated.
The first step in reducing your exposure to breathing hazards at work is to recognize that they are present. Although it is your employer's legal responsibility to inform you of both general and specific hazards connected with your job and to provide you with a safe and healthful workplace, you can assist with this effort. Be on the alert for unsafe and unhealthful working conditions and report problems to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and ask for an on-site inspection. This can be done so that the worker's identity is not revealed to the employer. A listing of OSHA offices is available on their web site at http://www.osha.gov.
Tips For Recognizing Breathing Hazards
When trying to identify breathing hazards, a good place to begin is with your own senses. Take note of any of the following problems:
Eye Irritation. Be aware of unusual eye irritation, especially when entering the work area. You will be able to detect chemicals like formaldehyde and ammonia quite easily. These chemicals will irritate your eyes, nose and throat.
Odors. Detecting an odor may indicate exposure to a dangerous amount of some workplace substances. However, don't think all is well if you don't smell anything. Some substances like carbon monoxide gas have no odor at all, though the levels may be high enough to cause serious health problems or even death. Also, you may smell a substance at first, but after awhile no longer notice it. Often this means that your nose has become used to the odor and has temporarily lost its ability to detect the substance. It does not mean the substance is gone, or that any danger is eliminated.
Visible Dust Clouds of Fumes. Visible clouds of dust or fumes usually mean that there is no ventilation system in the workplace, or that if there is one, it is not working well. Dust and fumes may irritate the nose, throat and lungs. Repeated exposure over months and years can also cause serious lung diseases. For example, silicosis is a chronic lung disease affecting sand blasters and other workers repeatedly exposed to silica dust. This disease can cause permanent shortness of breath due to fibrosis (scarring) of the lung.
Chemical Spills. Chemical spills often cause injuries and illnesses. Chemicals should be used and stored as recommended by the manufacturer. Spills should be cleaned up promptly and the cause examined.
Persistent Symptoms of Illnesses. Recurring chest symptoms such as persistent cough and shortness of breath or illnesses among workers may indicate a job-related health problem. If you notice a number of people in a work area frequently having the same symptoms or illnesses-especially if these conditions seem worse during working hours-they may be job-related.
To obtain more information about a suspected health problem at work, you can see your company's medical records about your exposure to toxic materials and make a copy of them. For more information about how you can se these records, read the American's Lung Association's Fact Sheet in this series, "Workers Have a Right To Know." You can also get more information from your union or shop representative without jeopardizing your job.
Get The Facts About Possible Airborne Hazards
If you suspect a material or condition may be hazardous, there are many ways you can obtain more information about its health effects.
Check the Label. Read the labels on containers of solvents, paints, adhesives, insulation or other materials you are using. Look for a list of ingredients, handling precautions and first aid measures.
Ask to See a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).
Manufacturers of chemical products are required to provide information about their products to employers using them. This information is provided in the form of the MSDS and must be kept on file by your employer. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard, employees must be able to see information about chemicals with which they are working. For more information on how to use the MSDS, see the American Lung Association's Fact Sheet in this series, "How to Read a Material Safety Data Sheet."
Tell Your Doctor. It is important for you to tell your doctor about chemicals that you work with and that you have been exposed. Keep a record for yourself of all jobs you have had, along with a list of chemicals and processes with which you were involved at theses jobs. Share this information with your doctor.
How Breathing Hazards Affect the Body
The lungs can be affected by a wide range of harmful substances that get into the air. The kind of chemicals that are in each substance, the physical form that the substance takes (meaning, is it a dust, a gas, or something else), along with the amount you breathe in, will affect how much damage is done to a person and what parts of the body are harmed the most. Many toxic substances also pass through the lungs into the bloodstream, traveling to other organs of the body. Shown here are examples of hazardous exposures to four different substances.
Type of Substance What Its Effect Is Part of the Body It May Harm Ammonia (gas) a. Irritation Nose, throat, eyes b. Bronchial Upper airways constriction Asbestos (dust) a. Fibrosis (scarring) Airways, alveoli (tiny air sacs in the lungs), surrounding tissue b. Lung Cancer Airways, surrounding tissue Phosgene (gas) Pulmonary edema Alveoli (accumulated fluid in the lungs) Carbon Monoxide Interferes with Most vital organs ability of blood (brain, heart, etc.) to carry oxygen Isocyanates a. Causes asthma Airways (toluene di-isocyanate-a in 5-10% of exposed workers hardener in paints, also used to make polyurethane glue and b. Can accelerate decline in the manufacture of in annual lung function in workers polyurethanes)
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