Is chipper dust something we should be worried about.

[David Humphries]

Lets face it, we have all had some/lots of contact with airbourne dust/wood chip, to some degree or other, no matter how long we've been in the game.

 

I am assuming that no one regularly uses face masks whilst Chipping/Cutting.........................or do you?

 

I'm trying to look at this from both LA and commercial, cause we are all in the same boat, with regards to exposure, whether or not you write and stick to R/A or not.

 

I don't know of any research in to the toxicology of contaminated wood chip/dust....................anyone?

 

Is anyone concerned as to the long term negative health aspects we are potentially exposing ourselves to?

 

Or should we all take up/restart smoking, to give our lungs a good thick coat of tar to ward off any nasty cancerous wood particles

 

 

Picture courtesy of Layton Thompson

Edited November 10, 2008 by Monkey-D
Picture Credit

[Andy Collins]

I think all dead wood dust is an issue re: this, however i think common sense should prevail, ie not working on the windy side of the spout when chipping. Maybe the issuing of dust masks should be more regular, but maybe respiratory helmets will come to the fore, as seen on combine harvesters? Are there any recorded incidences of respiratory failure directly linked with chipping? I think this may just be a little over the top really. not chipper related, but wood dust http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:18086698/pmid/sim

[Stuart A-C]

keeping a sharp saw and sharp blades on the chipper helps reduce dust!

[John Hancock]

Did you hear about the chap who had an allergic reaction to the fungal spores within the chippings he was shovelling…. ?

 

Hi died! :scared1:

[John Hancock]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7451439.stm

[Jason James Gairn]

Lets face it, we have all had some/lots of contact with airbourne dust/wood chip, to some degree or other, no matter how long we've been in the game.

 

I am assuming that no one regularly uses face masks whilst Chipping/Cutting.........................or do you?

 

I'm trying to look at this from both LA and commercial, cause we are all in the same boat, with regards to exposure, whether or not you write and stick to R/A or not.

 

I don't know of any research in to the toxicology of contaminated wood chip/dust....................anyone?

 

Is anyone concerned as to the long term negative health aspects we are potentially exposing ourselves to?

 

Or should we all take up/restart smoking, to give our lungs a good thick coat of tar to ward off any nasty cancerous wood particles

 

.

 

What's making that huge amount of debris across the picture? Dead elm that's the one that gets me. Plane is bad too, but elm oooh

[Nick Waring]

Did you hear about the chap who had an allergic reaction to the fungal spores within the chippings he was shovelling…. ?

 

Hi died! :scared1:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7451439.stm

 

Yeah, there was a thread on here a while back.

 

 

*edit* heres the thread link

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2396&highlight=fungal+spores

[THE88MAN]

elm can be bad i agree,when i'm on the sawbench its really dry ash that gets me,if i only wear a visor and cut it all day it burns my eyes out of their sockets almost,can't be good for your health

[Jason James Gairn]

elm can be bad i agree,when i'm on the sawbench its really dry ash that gets me,if i only wear a visor and cut it all day it burns my eyes out of their sockets almost,can't be good for your health

 

I guess i dont use saw benches much. I do quite a bit of elm removals from the hedgerows of essex and the dust from chipping big lumps of elm is nuts. Sometimes we lose contact with the chipper in the brown cloud. Personally i run away swearing.

never heard that about ash before.

[Mesterh]

I think "woodmans lung" is a respiratory disease, not sure though. Will have to google it