Respirator Protection and Acceptability Among Agricultural Workers

Abstract

Abstract Results are presented of field determinations of effectiveness (workplace protection factor; WPF) and acceptability (questionnaire responses) by respirator users in indoor swine production, poultry production, and grain handling facilities. Dust mass and endotoxin in air samples collected over 4 hours outside the mask and inside the mask were compared to yield the WPF. Disposable respirators had a mean WPF of 13; quarter-mask respirators, 22; half-mask respirators, 19; and powered air purifying helmets, 30. These values are generally less than laboratory-based measures of effectiveness but similar to other field data. Acceptability among these four classes of respirators varied among the three user groups: poultry operators preferred the powered helmet; grain handlers preferred the half-mask; and swine producers were split between the quarter-mask and half-mask respirators. Fully disposable masks were preferred by only 20 to 22 percent of the workers in each setting. Among all groups of workers, ...