ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews issues of worker exposures in intensive livestock houses (ILHs), which present work places with potential respiratory hazards. The hazardous substances in ILH's include both inhalable dusts, and gases. Agricultural dust exposures in ILHs may be of two types, those of high dust concentration for short periods or those with every day exposures of lower concentrations. The chapter focuses on swine ILH, primarily and poultry, secondarily, as these operations have been most extensively studied, and they have been most commonly reported as potential environments presenting occupational health risks for workers. Worker tasks in ILHs include feed preparation, feeding animals, cleaning the buildings, sorting and moving animals from one pen or building to another, performing routine vaccinations, treatments, breeding sows, tending to birthing sows, and "processing" piglets. Medically, little can be prescribed to cure chronic respiratory conditions of ILH workers, but sumptoms may be mitigated by reducing exposure, and appropriatly prescribed medications.
