Respiratory Protection Against Bioaerosols in Agriculture

Details

• Personal Author:
  Grinshpun S ; Jones G ; Jones S ; McKay R ; Reponen T ; Shukla R
• Description:
  Background: Current guidelines for respirator use and selection are based primarily on data collected for particle mass without size-selective data on particle concentrations. Furthermore, very little information is available on the protection provided by respirators against biological particles. Methods: Personal sampling setup developed in a previous NIOSH grant permitted simultaneous determination of workplace protection factors (WPFs) for biological and non-biological particles. In the current study, WPF was measured on 8 farms for 25 subjects wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) and an N95 elastomeric respirator (ER). Aerosol concentrations were measured simultaneously inside and outside the respirator using an optical particle counter (OPC) for the size range of 0.7.10 um to obtain size-selective WPFs. Two filter samplers collected particles for subsequent analysis of WPF for particle mass, endotoxin, (1-3)- B-D-glucan, and fungal spores. Laboratory experiments were conducted with various types of non-biological and biological particles using a respirator partially sealed on manikin face simulating realistic faceseal leakage. Total penetration was measured as in the field study. Additionally, filter penetrations were measured after the FFR was fully sealed on the manikin face using mean inspiratory flow rates of 15, 30, and 85 L/min. Filter penetrations were deducted from total penetrations to determine faceseal penetrations. Results: For the ER, geometric mean (GM) WPFs were 172, 321, 1013, 2097 and 2784 for particle diameters of 0.7.1.0, 1.0.2.0, 2.0.3.0, 3.0.5.0, and 5.0.10.0 um, respectively. Corresponding values for the FFR were 67, 124, 312, 909, and 2089. WPFs for the ER were significantly higher than the FFR for all particle size ranges when calculated from the OPC data. However, when assessing WPFs against particle mass, endotoxin, (1-3)-B-D-glucan, and fungi, no significant differences between the two respirator types were found. GM WPFs for the two types of respirators combined were 154, 29, 18, 19 and 176 for endotoxin, fungal spore count, (1-->3)-B-D-glucan, total particle mass, and total particle number, respectively. The differences in the WPFs between different types of contaminants were statistically significant. Careful statistical data analysis indicated that the differences between contaminants were due to differences in the sensitivity of analytical methods. Laboratory experiments with non-biological particles representing the size range of bacteria and fungal spores (0.7 - 4 um) confirmed that WPF decreases with decreasing particle size. Laboratory experiments with model bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescence) and fungi (Penicillium citrinum) did not show differences between WPFs measured by OPC and by microbiological methods. Laboratory experiments also showed that spherical particles had 2.0-2.8 times higher penetration through faceseal leaks and 1.1-1.5 times higher penetration through filter media than fibers of similar aerodynamic diameter. Conclusions: The results show WPFs for the ER were higher than the FFR for all particle size ranges and WPFs for both respirator types decreased with decreasing particle size. Results also indicate that differences in WPFs observed between different contaminants may be attributed to differences in the sensitivity of analytical methods to detect low inside concentrations, rather than the nature of particles (biological or non-biological). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Agriculture Endotoxins Occupational Health Particulate Matter Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Aerosol Particles Biological Materials N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators Particle Size Particulate Filtering Facepiece Respirators Respirator Selection Respirator Testing
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-49
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055114
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100825
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-004085, 2011 Oct; :1-49
• Contact Point Address:
  Tiina Reponen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Environmental health, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056
• Email:
  Tiina.Reponen@uc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010601
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20110731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a8a657c59f5ff3fbae398888bae2ab383fde0258ebfb833f221af67c0947c43d874bfa4afc1733cbe073d0e1bd5afd2f54e597fb99150422e116f15dd6688021
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218835/cdc_218835_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 639.28 KB ]