Long-term cotton dust exposure in the textile industry

A three-year survey was conducted in six cotton-yarn manufacturing mills and one mill processing synthetic polyester fibers as part of a longitudinal epidemiologic investigation of the health experience of workers employed in the textile industry. A total of 1324 elutriated and total dust samples were collected during the three years of the study. The results indicate that the average elutriated dust concentrations in the surveyed mills were generally at or below the current OSHA standard and they ranged from 0.069 to 0.396 mg/m3, 0.089 to 0.391 mg/m3, and 0.106 to 0.210 mg/m3 for the first, second and third year surveys, respectively. Introduction of modern automated yarn processing equipment and elimination of some of the classic processes were associated with a decreasing trend in airborne dust concentrations in these mills.