Abstract:
It is widely acknowledged that the exposure of workers and animals to dust is detrimental to their health (Iversen 1999) and could also have a harmful effect on productivity. Farm workers are likely to be exposed to very high concentrations of dust during work activities associated with high levels of animal movement, such as vaccination or weighing pigs. Measures are therefore required to reduce dust levels during such work activities. Applying oil onto the floors of pig pens has been well recognised as a practical long-term dust reduction technique (Pedersen 2001). However, the short-term dust reduction potential of oil-spraying immediately applied before the work activity, has not been studied in Australia. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of spraying an oil and water mixture on weaner room floors and horizontal dust collecting surfaces on dust and bacteria concentrations immediately before a simulated work activity.