Bird droppings, feathers, dander (dead skin), dust mites storage mites, and micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi and mould are the types of harmful substances that poultry workers are exposed to daily. Whether laying down litter, populating poultry houses or carrying out routine upkeep and cleaning of houses during the growing or production period, there is always dust present therefore exposing workers, visitors, and contractors to a variety of potential health issues.
What are the health issues associated with poultry dust?
Poultry dust originates from residues left behind by the birds, such as dirt, mould and feathers. The dust is often biologically active as it contains microorganisms. The name alludes to how small these particles are, giving an idea as to how far they can penetrate the respiratory system.
Acute and chronic work-related symptoms are very common in poultry workers and include coughing, bringing up phlegm, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness, eye irritation, nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose, throat irritation, headache, fever and fatigue. These can lead to a variety of clinical responses, including asthma, chronic bronchitis, and chronic airways obstructive disease (COPD).
The longer someone has worked on a poultry farm and has ultimately been exposed to particulate pollution, the more likely they are to develop chronic respiratory problems.
Who could be at risk?
- Anyone who has access to or works in a poultry unit, whether as a stockman, visitor, or temporary worker such as a vet or contractor appointed to clean the unit at the end of the flock.
- Anyone who is required to access a live poultry unit or before it has been completely cleaned will be exposed to poultry dust.
There are a number of different activities that may produce more dust than normal, such as transferring point of lay hens from wheeled modules into cages or open barns or placing out trays of day-old chicks into growing sheds. Even using a brush to sweep and maintain housekeeping will disturb large amounts of dust.
What are your responsibilities as an employer?
As an employer you are responsible for safeguarding the health and safety of almost anyone who can be exposed to the poultry dust produced by your business. Primarily, this includes all stockmen, temporary staff such as bird catchers or contractors, and any visitors you permit to access the poultry units.
That being said, all contractors and agencies still must have their own health and safety provisions in place that relate to working with poultry, and preventive measures regarding poultry dust exposure.
This maybe an agreed joint undertaking, where the agency or contractor follow your current policy which is communicated via a site induction, or alternatively, the agency’s and contractors’ own policies which you must assess to ensure they meet your standards. On either account any non-conformance must be highlighted to the appropriate duty holder, e.g. the agency who employ the bird catchers.
Always inform non-conformance by email or letter, so that you have a written record. This could then be provided as evidence in the event of an investigation or claim.
If you are unsure or unclear on your responsibilities, contact CXCS for support.
Control measures
Health and safety regulations relating to exposure, require engineering controls to be put in place to remove or reduce the exposure to harmful substances. In this case, it would be to reduce or remove poultry dust.
In the poultry industry this is not always practical due to bird welfare, although the climate control system does assist with removing some dust from the poultry unit.
Therefore, as it is not possible to sufficiently reduce the exposure, we must prevent inhalation of the poultry dust using respiratory protective equipment, or ‘RPE’.
There are a number of respiratory protective equipment types on the market, but a few different points must be considered when selecting the correct RPE:
- Does it meet the required standard?
- Can all workers use this type of RPE; what about workers who have beards?
- Is the RPE selected compatible with other PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)?
In addition to the correct type of RPE, you have a responsibility to ensure that the workforce is aware of how to wear the RPE correctly, this can be confirmed by providing Face Fit Testing or ‘FFT’.
Once you have all of the control measures in place, and have provided adequate RPE, you are required to communicate this to all employees, temporary staff, contractors and visitors, either via a farm induction or safety briefing. You must ensure that you have collected signatures to prove that the workforce understand and agree to comply with your safe working procedures, including the dust policy.
Workers who are exposed to poultry dust, can develop serious health problems as mentioned above, which can lead to them making a claim against your business. Unlike a broken limb which can be claimed for up to 3 years after the accident, asthma and other respiratory diseases can be claimed for damages up to 3 years after being diagnosed, which could be some time after the claimant has left your employment.
If you require any more support and direction in providing information, instruction or training to your workforce relating to poultry dust, please contact CXCS’ Health and Safety department by emailing healthandsafety@cxcs.co.uk or by calling 01981590514.
