title: A survey of occupational exposure to inhalable wood dust among workers in small- and medium-scale wood-processing enterprises in Ethiopia.
abstract: A study of wood dust exposure in 20 small- and medium-scale wood-processing enterprises was performed in Ethiopia. Sampling was conducted daily from January to June, 2013 and a total of 360 samples from 113 workers were collected with Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) personal samplers. Eight-hour time-weighted average exposure to wood dust ranged from 0.24 to 23.3mg m(-3) with a geometric mean (GM) of 6.82mg m(-3) and a geometric standard deviation of 1.82. Although Ethiopia did not have any defined standard of Occupational Exposure Limit for wood dust exposure, 71% of the measurements exceeded the limit of 5mg m(-3) set by the European Union (EU). Higher than the EU exposure limit was measured while workers perform sanding and sawing activities with a GM of 9.72 and 7.60mg m(-3), respectively. In conclusion, wood workers in the small- and medium-scale enterprises are at a higher risk of developing different respiratory health problems with continuous exposure trends.
authors.affiliation: 1.Center for Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2.Axes Research Group, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eyasu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ayalew
authors.affiliation: 3.Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Yonas
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gebre
authors.affiliation: 2.Axes Research Group, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium Karolien.DeWael@uantwerpen.be.
authors.forename: Karolien
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Wael
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005002:Ethiopia; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000295:instrumentation; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014934:Wood
chemical_list: D004391:Dust
keywords: Ethiopia; occupational exposure; wood dust; wood-processing enterprises