Wood Dust Cancer – Causes, Symptoms And Preventive Measures : Cancer is an illness which in many instances is mentioned with lots of grief and that is because its effects are catastrophic. People are ever advised to avoid getting into contact with any substance that can increase their likelihood of getting cancer, and it is fairly right to report that not many people would consider wood dust to be among potential carcinogenic agents.
Many of the times, people do take precaution against wood dust particles do avoid minor breathing difficulties and the general discomfort that accompany inhalation of dust particles.
However, it turns out that the health effects of overexposure to wood dust particles may be more potent than just causing breathing difficulties. Excessive accumulation of wood dust particles in the nose and the chest cavity can lead to some forms of nose and lung cancer, generally termed as wood dust cancer.
Understanding Wood Dust Exposure Limit (WLE)
The people who stand the greatest risk of acquiring wood dust cancer are individuals who are working in environments where wood dust is unavoidable and is a norm. Professionals such as carpenters are among the people who are at the most risk, and people who work in woodwork related industries which emit high quantities of wood dust aren’t excluded.
The cancer scare may get more real if the allowable wood dust exposure limit is exceeded. For persons who are having an average of eight-hour working day, the Workplace Exposure Limit should not exceed 5mg/m3.
Any wood dust exposure value above that limit may overstretch the lung and nose working capabilities when it comes to dealing with the excessive solid particles. Consequently, much of the inhaled dust particles will get into contact with the nose and lung cavities and cause abrasion and other effects that can slowly lead to the development of wood dust cancer.
The Symptoms To Watch Out For
Inhalation of wood dust can lead to many respiratory problems such as asthma. High concentration of wood dust particles in the lungs may create an itching effect in the chest cavity, and this may make breathing and eating to even more difficult.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that it may be difficult to notice some symptoms of excessive exposure to wood dust since their effects may take some time to be felt reasonably.
The general medical advice is that people who are at greatest risk of exposure to wood dust inhalation, e.g. carpenters and workers in factories dealing with wood products should regularly consider routine medical consultations if they are having chest pains, breathing difficulties, excessive coughing and itching nose and chest cavities. Medical checkups can ensure that wood dust cancer is identified early in time and its spread as well as effects well kept in check.
How To Keep Yourself From Wood Dust Cancer
The most important health safety procedure for beating wood dust cancer is that everybody should avoid environments that are overly filled with wood dust. In professional situations such as industries where it might be difficult to avoid wood dust, workers are advised to consider additional protection mechanisms when engaging in tasks such as wood sanding.
Any anti-wood dust mask used should not have any functional faults in it. Industries are also advised to consider routine maintenance practices aimed at eliminating the excessive build-up of wood dust in the working environment.
That objective can be arrived at by installing exhaust ventilation systems in conditions where a buildup of wood dust is unavoidable. The ventilation systems work by capturing and isolating wood dust produced by machining processes before it can spread.
Woodwork equipment such as router tables and router bits must be routinely cleaned since they can excessively accumulate dust, much of which can be inhaled by equipment users. For the best working environment, you should choose the router table which has a dust collection system. Industries can also contribute greatly to the efforts of reducing incidences of wood dust cancer by adopting factories layout plans that prevent too many machines from being confined in a relatively small space.
Spacious factory layouts having superb air conditioning systems will ensure that workers breathe fresh air that can counteract the overly adverse side effects of inhaling wood dust. Most importantly, wood dust shouldn’t be allowed to accumulate to dangerous levels so that cleaning action should be taken. Instead, wood dust clearing should be keenly followed routine, preferably on a weekly basis.
Assuming that workers strictly use protective gears while engaging in professional duties, routine cleaning will create an environment that greatly reduces the levels of wood dust, and this possibly that can be considered a superb preventive measure against wood dust cancer.
Author Bio:
Danny L. Montgomery is the founder and owner of the blog zukzik.com. He is experts of woodworking. He loves to share everything about woodworking.
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