Levels of airborne dust in furniture making factories in the High Wycombe area

Levels of airborne dust in furniture making factories in the High Wycombe area. A dust survey was carried out in five furniture making factories in, or in the vicinity of, High Wycombe. The results, which are among the first to be reported for the United Kingdom, have provided information on the concentrations and size distributions of airborne dust to which wood machinists are currently exposed. Although measured concentrations covered a wide range, the average concentration was similar to the threshold limit value of 5 mg m-3 provisionally recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. A high proportion by mass of the airborne dust was of a size which will be deposited in the nasal passages on inhalation. In recent years, it has been established that there is an excess of adenocarcinoma of the paranasal sinuses in woodworkers in the furniture industry (Acheson, Cowdell, Hadfield, and Macbeth, 1968; Hadfield, 1970). In addition to carcinoma of the nasal sinuses, occupational exposure to wood dus