Dust control

摘要

Researchers from the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) have investigated six sectors of the British grain industry to identify and characterise exposure-significant tasks in terms of inhalable grain dust. Grain dust is defined in the HSE Guidance Note EH 40/2005 as dust arising from the harvesting, drying, handling, storage or processing of barley, wheat, oats, maize and rye, including contaminants or additives within the dust. These contaminants include fungal spores, endotoxins (a toxic insoluble structural component of bacteria), mycotox-ins (toxic substances produced by fungi), bacteria and actinomycetes (gram positive bacteria - most pathogenic bacteria in humans are gram positive), insects, fragments of bird feathers, animal hairs and excreta from animals plus fungicide, pesticide and fertiliser residues and derivatives.