Assessment of Workers Exposure to Ammonia In Animal Facilities at Walter C. Todd Agricultural Research Center, Nacogdoches, Texas

Poultry, swine, and equine animal facilities are all considered as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). All these CAFOs are emission sources of gases and other pollutants which have negative impacts on the environment, human health, and animal health as well. One of those gases is Ammonia (NH3), which is a colorless, highly irritating gas with a pungent, suffocating odor, and if inhaled in high concentrations, it may cause harm to the human body and the function of lungs. Personal exposure to ammonia was assessed for six workers in the three animal facilities: poultry, swine, and equine. Two workers from each facility wore passive badges (Model 584, Assay Technologies, OH) once per day over the sampling days. Eleven microenvironments frequented by the workers (stalls, barns, swine facility’s rooms, broiler houses) were also monitored daily using color dosimeter tubes (Model 810-3DL, Gastec Corp., Japan). The concentrations in the microenvironments were read directly from the dosimeter tubes. An activity log was used to document the workers’ activities and locations during their shifts. A Repeated Measures ANOVA statistical analysis was used to test for the differences among the personal-exposure concentrations