Occupational exposure to bioaerosols in the Norwegian salmon processing industry.

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Pub Date : 2025-06-29 DOI:10.1093/annweh/wxaf038

Marte Renate Thomassen, Bjørg Eli Hollund, Türküler Özgümüs, Anne Mette Madsen, Anna Beate Overn Nordhammer, Hans Thore Smedbold, Magne Bråtveit, Anje Christina Höper, Berit Bang, Miriam Grgic, Maja Karlsen Linchausen, Jorunn Kirkeleit

{"title":"Occupational exposure to bioaerosols in the Norwegian salmon processing industry.","authors":"Marte Renate Thomassen, Bjørg Eli Hollund, Türküler Özgümüs, Anne Mette Madsen, Anna Beate Overn Nordhammer, Hans Thore Smedbold, Magne Bråtveit, Anje Christina Höper, Berit Bang, Miriam Grgic, Maja Karlsen Linchausen, Jorunn Kirkeleit","doi":"10.1093/annweh/wxaf038","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: Workers in salmon processing plants are at risk of respiratory diseases. The aim of this study was to describe the Norwegian salmon processing industry in respect to production-related factors that may influence the generation of bioaerosols in the work atmosphere, and to assess salmon processing workers' personal exposure to protein and endotoxin.Methods: The study comprised 222 workers from 9 plants. Fullshift personal exposure measurements of total protein (inhalable aerosol fraction, n = 380) and endotoxin (total aerosol sampler, n = 178) were collected on 4 consecutive workdays. Technical and process-related information was collected through plant visits and meetings with technical and production staff. Linear mixed-effect model was used, treating individuals as random effect and work area and work task within areas as fixed effects.Results: Plants differed in size, setup, processing procedures, and use of labor along the processing lines. Salmon processing overall geometric mean (GM) exposure to inhalable protein across the plants was highest in filleting area with 4.83 µg/m3 (geometric standard deviation [GSD] 3.16), followed by 3.91 µg/m3 (GSD 2.42) in slaughtering area, and 1.68 µg/m3 (GSD 2.40) in other areas. Endotoxin levels were generally low with the highest levels in slaughtering (GM 0.24 EU/m3; GSD 3.48), followed by other area (GM 0.19 EU/m3; GSD 4.05) and filleting (GM 0.10 EU/m3; GSD 2.51). The overall correlation between inhalable protein and endotoxin (total aerosol sampler) was poor (r = 0.13, P = 0.12).Conclusions: Salmon processing workers are exposed to airborne inhalable protein bioaerosols at levels similar to those measured over a decade ago, indicating that a systematic approach to reduce exposure levels is still needed. Given the known health risk, the industry and regulatory bodies need to intensify efforts to reduce exposure and protect workers' health. The variance in exposure levels to inhalable protein across plants, areas, and tasks might form the basis for better exposure-reducing strategies.","PeriodicalId":8362,"journal":{"name":"Annals Of Work Exposures and Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annals Of Work Exposures and Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxaf038","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: Workers in salmon processing plants are at risk of respiratory diseases. The aim of this study was to describe the Norwegian salmon processing industry in respect to production-related factors that may influence the generation of bioaerosols in the work atmosphere, and to assess salmon processing workers' personal exposure to protein and endotoxin.

Methods: The study comprised 222 workers from 9 plants. Fullshift personal exposure measurements of total protein (inhalable aerosol fraction, n = 380) and endotoxin (total aerosol sampler, n = 178) were collected on 4 consecutive workdays. Technical and process-related information was collected through plant visits and meetings with technical and production staff. Linear mixed-effect model was used, treating individuals as random effect and work area and work task within areas as fixed effects.

Results: Plants differed in size, setup, processing procedures, and use of labor along the processing lines. Salmon processing overall geometric mean (GM) exposure to inhalable protein across the plants was highest in filleting area with 4.83 µg/m3 (geometric standard deviation [GSD] 3.16), followed by 3.91 µg/m3 (GSD 2.42) in slaughtering area, and 1.68 µg/m3 (GSD 2.40) in other areas. Endotoxin levels were generally low with the highest levels in slaughtering (GM 0.24 EU/m3; GSD 3.48), followed by other area (GM 0.19 EU/m3; GSD 4.05) and filleting (GM 0.10 EU/m3; GSD 2.51). The overall correlation between inhalable protein and endotoxin (total aerosol sampler) was poor (r = 0.13, P = 0.12).

Conclusions: Salmon processing workers are exposed to airborne inhalable protein bioaerosols at levels similar to those measured over a decade ago, indicating that a systematic approach to reduce exposure levels is still needed. Given the known health risk, the industry and regulatory bodies need to intensify efforts to reduce exposure and protect workers' health. The variance in exposure levels to inhalable protein across plants, areas, and tasks might form the basis for better exposure-reducing strategies.

查看原文本刊更多论文

挪威鲑鱼加工业中职业性暴露于生物气溶胶。

目的：鲑鱼加工厂的工人有患呼吸道疾病的危险。本研究的目的是描述挪威鲑鱼加工业的生产相关因素，这些因素可能影响工作环境中生物气溶胶的产生，并评估鲑鱼加工工人个人接触蛋白质和内毒素的情况。方法：对9家工厂222名工人进行调查。连续4个工作日采集全轮班个人总蛋白（可吸入气溶胶部分，n = 380）和内毒素（总气溶胶采样器，n = 178）暴露量。通过工厂参观和与技术和生产人员的会议收集技术和工艺相关信息。采用线性混合效应模型，将个体作为随机效应，将工作区域和区域内的工作任务作为固定效应。结果：工厂在规模、设置、加工程序和沿加工线使用的劳动力方面存在差异。三文鱼加工过程中可吸入蛋白质的总体几何平均暴露量在切片区最高，为4.83µg/m3（几何标准差[GSD] 3.16），屠宰区次之，为3.91µg/m3 (GSD 2.42)，其他区域为1.68µg/m3 （GSD 2.40）。内毒素水平普遍较低，屠宰水平最高(GM 0.24 EU/m3；GSD 3.48)，其次是其他区域(GSD 0.19 EU/m3；GSD 4.05)和鱼片(GM 0.10 EU/m3；德牧2.51)。可吸入蛋白与内毒素（总气溶胶采样器）的总体相关性较差（r = 0.13, P = 0.12）。结论：鲑鱼加工工人暴露于空气中可吸入的蛋白质生物气溶胶的水平与十多年前的测量值相似，这表明仍然需要一种系统的方法来减少暴露水平。鉴于已知的健康风险，行业和监管机构需要加强努力，减少接触并保护工人的健康。不同植物、不同地区和不同任务的可吸入蛋白质暴露水平的差异，可能会形成更好的减少暴露策略的基础。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

19.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： About the Journal Annals of Work Exposures and Health is dedicated to presenting advances in exposure science supporting the recognition, quantification, and control of exposures at work, and epidemiological studies on their effects on human health and well-being. A key question we apply to submission is, "Is this paper going to help readers better understand, quantify, and control conditions at work that adversely or positively affect health and well-being?" We are interested in high quality scientific research addressing: the quantification of work exposures, including chemical, biological, physical, biomechanical, and psychosocial, and the elements of work organization giving rise to such exposures; the relationship between these exposures and the acute and chronic health consequences for those exposed and their families and communities; populations at special risk of work-related exposures including women, under-represented minorities, immigrants, and other vulnerable groups such as temporary, contingent and informal sector workers; the effectiveness of interventions addressing exposure and risk including production technologies, work process engineering, and personal protective systems; policies and management approaches to reduce risk and improve health and well-being among workers, their families or communities; methodologies and mechanisms that underlie the quantification and/or control of exposure and risk. There is heavy pressure on space in the journal, and the above interests mean that we do not usually publish papers that simply report local conditions without generalizable results. We are also unlikely to publish reports on human health and well-being without information on the work exposure characteristics giving rise to the effects. We particularly welcome contributions from scientists based in, or addressing conditions in, developing economies that fall within the above scope.