Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on March 29, 2006
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2006 50(6):549-561; doi:10.1093/annhyg/mel013
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Occupational Exposure to Inhalable Wood Dust in the Member States of the European Union
1 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Helsinki, Finland
2 Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité Nancy, France
3 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Lappeenranta, Finland
4 University of Minho Braga, Portugal
5 Health and Safety Executive Nottingham, UK
6 Holz-Berufsgenossenschaft Munich, Germany
7 PPM Research and Consulting Linz, Austria
8 Direction de la Santé Luxembourg, Luxembourg
9 National School of Public Health Athens, Greece
10 Utrecht University Utrecht, The Netherlands
11 Università di Torino Torino, Italy
12 Health and Safety Authority Dublin, Ireland
13 Berufsgenossenschaftliches Forschungsinstitut für Arbeitsmedizin Bochum, Germany
14 Arbets- och Miljömedicin Stockholm, Sweden
15 Sygehus Viborg Skive, Denmark
16 Catholic University of Louvain Brussels, Belgium
17 Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo Madrid, Spain
18 Public Health DG Madrid, Spain
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +358-30-4741; fax: +358-9-2414634; e-mail: timo.kauppinen{at}ttl.fi
The aim of this study was to estimate occupational exposure to inhalable wood dust by country, industry, the level of exposure and type of wood dust in 25 member states of the European Union (EU-25) for the purposes of hazard control, exposure surveillance and assessment of health risks. National labour force statistics, a country questionnaire (in 15 member states, EU-15), a company survey (in Finland, France, Germany and Spain), exposure measurements (from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and expert judgements were used to generate preliminary estimates of exposure to different types of wood dust. The estimates were generated according to industrial class (six wood industries, four other sectors) and level of exposure (five classes). These estimates were reviewed and finalized by national experts from 15 member states. Crude estimates were generated also for 10 new member states (EU-10). The basic data and final estimates were included in the WOODEX database. In 2000–2003, about 3.6 million workers (2.0% of the employed EU-25 population) were occupationally exposed to inhalable wood dust. Of those, construction employed 1.2 million exposed workers (33%), mostly construction carpenters. The numbers of exposed workers were 700 000 (20%) in the furniture industry, 300 000 (9%) in the manufacture of builders' carpentry, 200 000 (5%) in sawmilling, 150 000 (4%) in forestry and <100 000 in other wood industries. In addition, there were 700 000 exposed workers (20%) in miscellaneous industries employing carpenters, joiners and other woodworkers. The numbers of exposed workers varied by country ranging from <3000 in Luxembourg and Malta to 700 000 in Germany. The highest exposure levels were estimated to occur in the construction sector and furniture industry. Due to limited exposure data there was considerable uncertainty in the estimates concerning construction woodworkers. About 560 000 workers (16% of the exposed) may be exposed to a level exceeding 5 mg m–3. Mixed exposure to more than one species of wood and dust from wooden boards was very common, but reliable data on exposure to different species of wood could not be retrieved. This kind of assessment procedure integrating measurement data, company data, country-specific data and expert judgement could also serve as one model for the assessment of other occupational exposures.
Keywords: European Union • occupational exposure • wood dust
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