Removal of 60 tons of manure from a building: protecting workers at risk

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lenhart, Steven W. ; Schafer M
• Description:
  An accumulation of pigeon manure was removed from the twelfth floor of a prison's administration building before removal of an empty 150,000-gallon water tank and the building's demolition. Sixty tons of manure were removed using a long, flexible hose connected to a trailer-mounted, industrial vacuum system. Removal workers wore full-facepiece, powered air-purifying respirators and disposable coveralls, gloves, and shoe coverings. Twelve manure samples were collected outside the water tank, 8 were collected inside the tank, and 5 soil samples were collected near the building's foundation. Using standard fungal culturing methods, each sample was analyzed for three potentially infectious microorganisms: Blastomyces dermatitidis Cryptococcus neoformans, and Histoplasma capsulatum. A handheld aerosol monitor was used to measure air concentrations of dust aerosolized during manure removal. Air sampling was also conducted near the vacuum equipment and waste hopper and in a parking lot to estimate background dust concentrations. C. neoformans was recovered from 4 of 12 manure samples collected outside the water tank and from 7 of 8 samples collected inside the tank. No sample was found to contain H. capsulatum or B. dermatitidis. During most removal activities, airborne dust concentrations ranged from 0.8 to 1.5 mg/ m3. Airborne dust increased to 3.0 mg/m3 during dry shoveling, and to greater than 20 mg/m3 during a brief period of dry sweeping. Airborne dust concentrations near the waste hopper and in the parking lot were 0.03 mg/m3. C. neoformans causes cryptococcosis and is often found in bird manure accumulations. Formerly a rare infectious disease, the incidence of cryptococcosis has increased because of its frequent occurrence among HIV-infected persons. Recovery of C. neoformans from manure samples and dusty working conditions suggested that the exposure precautions taken by removal workers were necessary. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Animals Communicable Diseases Environmental Monitoring Fungi Hazardous Substances Microbiology Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Waste Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Air-sampling Fungal-diseases Fungal-infections Hazardous-materials Hazardous-waste-cleanup Infection-control Infectious-diseases Microorganisms Personal-protective-equipment Safety-equipment Safety-measures Soil-sampling Vacuum-cleaning-systems Vacuum-equipment Waste-disposal Waste-treatment Worker-health Workplace-monitoring

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• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  32
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043765
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 9-15, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1998 May; :32
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1998
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 9-15, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:89f2ae1cfd2e3ba614ec4a7da50d8234fc62c70f187a9a9ab668b7354ff7c8644787b599a996619690d0025bac5cdd7cebd3af420093c27af0eeb2e3d8114f9d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195581/cdc_195581_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 644.79 KB ]