Textile dust containing cotton fibers and particulate generated during cotton-yarn and fabric production.
Evidence
A NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation measured airborne cotton dust in mattress and upholstery processing areas, found total concentrations below the OSHA standard in effect at the time, and identified machinery maintenance and work-practice changes as ways to reduce emissions further.
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page 3 · I. Summary · 1Total airborne cotton dust concentrations collected in February 1984, ranged from 199 to 658 ug/m3 in garnetting ... Based on the results, NIOSH has concluded that total cotton dust levels did not exceed the OSHA 1000 ug/m3 total cotton standard that was in effect at the time ... Recommendations are made ... for further reducing of the cotton dust concentrations through machinery repair and improved employee work practices.
NIOSH's Current Intelligence Bulletin on washed cotton states that the OSHA cotton-dust standard uses medical monitoring and controls to prevent occupational respiratory disease, and reports that mild washing physically removes cotton dust and markedly reduces adverse airway response to residual dust.
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page 6 · Summary · 1The OSHA comprehensive cotton dust standard ... requires medical monitoring of workers and administrative controls as adjuncts to dust control for preventing occupational respiratory disease from cotton dust exposure. ... Task Force studies demonstrated that mild washing ... physically removes dust from the cotton and also markedly reduces adverse airway response to residual dust.
A NIOSH health-hazard evaluation examined pulmonary effects of cotton-dust exposure in knitting-department personnel using vertical-elutriator sampling and medical surveillance.
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page 5 · Evaluation Criteria · 2Certain components of cotton dust primarily the bracts of the cotton plant have been implicated in the development of byssinosis. Byssinosis is characterized by the gradual onset of symptoms within hours of returning to work on Monday after a weekend absence from work. If exposure continues the initial Monday symptoms of tightness in the chest, dyspnea and cough recur throughout the week.
NIOSH’s cotton-dust criteria document states that the standard is designed to protect workers despite gaps in knowledge about byssinosis etiology and recommends a workplace concentration up to 0.2 mg/m³ to reduce byssinosis prevalence and severity.
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page 1 · Recommendations for a Cotton Dust Standard · 1Although there are significant gaps in knowledge of the etiology of byssinosis, the standard is designed to compensate for this gap and to provide the greatest feasible degree of health protection for exposed workers over their working lifetime. ... NIOSH recommends an environmental concentration as high as 0.2 mg lint-free cotton dust/cu m, in order to reduce the prevalence and severity of byssinosis.
The original 1974 NIOSH criteria document recommends an environmental concentration up to 0.2 mg lint-free cotton dust per cubic meter to reduce the prevalence and severity of byssinosis.
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page 3 · Recommendations for a Cotton Dust Standard · 4NIOSH recommends an environmental concentration as high as 0.2 mg lint-free cotton dust/cu m, in order to reduce the prevalence and severity of byssinosis.