Total concentrations of dust in the air during farm work

Total concentrations of dust in the air of work environments were measured on 20 Finnish farms during 1980-82. On 8 farms the main line of production was dairy farming, on 5 farms it was pig farming, on 4 farms poultry farming and on 3 farms grain production. Dust was measured by the gravimetric method according to the Finnish standard. Results were compared to the threshold limit value (TLV), which for inorganic dust is 10 mg/m3, and for organic dust 5 mg/m3. Mean concentrations of dust in the breathing zone exceeded the TLV for organic dust in all farm buildings, piggeries and poultry yards with coops having the highest mean concentrations, 12.6 mg/m3 and 12.8 mg/m3, respectively. Mean total concentrations of dust during seed dressing, harrowing, rolling and emptying the grain drier were 31.4, 14.0, 18.2 and 20.0 mg/m3, respectively. During sowing and haymaking, the total concentrations of dust were also high occasionally.