Control workplace hazards-protect worker health and productivity: asthma & western red cedar

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  What is work-related asthma? Asthma is a chronic lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. Work-related asthma is a form of asthma caused by exposures in the workplace. There are two types of work-related asthma. The first is when a worker who has never had breathing problems develops asthma from exposures at work. The other is when a worker already has asthma, but it is made worse by work exposures. How does Western Red Cedar cause asthma? Western Red Cedar contains a chemical called plicatic acid that causes an allergic reaction (called sensitization) in some people. There is no way to predict who will become sensitized to plicatic acid so it is important to limit the exposures of all workers. Prevention Strategies: Asthma from Western Red Cedar can be prevented. The best defense against work-related asthma is a good offense. Prevent asthma by keeping your work environment clean and free of cedar dust as much as possible. Control Methods: 1. Engineering solutions: Change the way things are done to lessen the worker's exposure to dust. A. Enclose and ventilate machines to keep the work area clean and free of dust. B. Install local exhaust ventilation to remove dust before it enters the work environment. 2. Administrative controls: A. Train workers on the importance of minimizing cedar dust. B. Provide wash facilities and changing areas to decrease take home exposure to cedar dust. 3. Provide personal protective equipment (PPE) such as respirators: Use this as a last resort. Be sure the worker is properly trained and fitted to use PPE. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Dust Education Lung Lung Diseases Men Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Staff Development Ventilation Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Bronchial-asthma Dust-exposure Dusts Exposure-levels Face-masks Humans Injuries Injury-prevention Lung-disease Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiration Respirators Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors Training Work-environment Workers

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• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Guidance
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044244
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 64-2-2004, 2004 May; :1-3
• Contact Point Address:
  SHARP Program, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, PO Box 44330, Olympia, WA 98504-4330
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010701
• Source Full Name:
  Control workplace hazards-protect worker health and productivity: asthma & western red cedar
• End Date:
  20060630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d69e87bea446396262fdaa123bc51ca60928188445f64618c2efb90f3e5cd837f062110dbf3df4844f1d823243c10a8d597875c727e3e8667d69e00c625a4321
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199992/cdc_199992_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 87.23 KB ]