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Dust entry

Pharmaceutical manufacturing dust

Airborne particulate generated during pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging, including tablet pressing and hand-scooping powder.

Airborne form

dustaerosol

The form describes what is suspended in air at the point of exposure. A material can produce more than one form, such as dust during handling and fume during heating.

Health effects

respirable dust exposurerespiratory disease concern

Evidence

A recent NIOSH evaluation of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility found that respirable dust levels could be very high for short periods during some activities and that hand-scooping powder during tablet pressing generated the highest measured dust levels, even though full-shift dust levels were below occupational exposure limits.

Source: html-and-pdf ↗ · saved source
page 6 · Our Key Findings · 1
During some work activities, respirable dust levels ... could be very high for short periods of time. During tablet pressing, hand-scooping powder generated the highest dust levels compared with other tasks we measured.

The same NIOSH evaluation recommends reducing airborne pharmaceutical dust because active pharmaceutical ingredients can cause allergic reactions and upper-respiratory irritation, and recommends closed powder handling and HEPA-filtered vacuuming rather than compressed-air cleaning.

Source: pdf ↗ · saved source
page 7 · Recommendation 1: Reduce airborne dust exposure as much as possible · 1
Exposure to this dust can cause health problems like allergic reactions and upper respiratory irritation. ... Use a vacuum equipped with a high efficiency particulate air or HEPA filter to clean dust on surfaces. Reduce or stop hand scooping powders.

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