Canadian Occupational Safety

February/March 2015 15 "During the fi rst minute, you have to start at a very, very low speed, otherwise you will have an amazing amount of dust in the air," says Aubin. Installing a local exhaust ventilation system, which removes the contami- nant before it spreads through the workplace, is also very effective. Mixers should be retrofi tted with an exhaust system that is placed behind or beside the mixer, rather than above. WorkSafeBC offers the following additional tips for local exhaust ventilation control: • Flour and ingredient weighing should be performed in ventilated cabinets. • Bench-top extraction systems should be retrofi tted to dough brake tables. • Stand-alone dust collectors can also be used for a variety of tasks. Excellent general ventilation is necessary. A good system of fans and exhaust that can adjust the air fl ow and achieve several air changes per hour can make a big difference, says Aubin. Regular air testing should be done at bakeries. This was a problem at Labelle's plant as it went "quite a few years with no testing done whatso- ever," she says. "For any place that works with anything like that, that's airborne, even though you cannot see it, it's there and you need to ensure your ventilation is proper and if you have to change the fi lters… that procedure needs to be followed," says Labelle. "If it has no place to get out and no proper ventilation, then it stays in the air." As the last line of defence, proper personal protective equipment (PPE) should be provided to workers. For example, a N95 fi ltering half-face piece respirator is recommended to protect against dust, while a surgical mask is not. But the use of a mask should be temporary, just until the ventilation can be improved, says Aubin. KNEADING SAFE WORK PRACTICES Good work habits can help prevent exposure of fl our and other dusts — or at least reduce the duration or intensity of exposure — in bakeries. "They have to care about the levels of dust in the air and in order to do that, you need to pay attention to the way you work in your bakery and make sure you do not put fl our dust in the air for nothing," says Aubin. For example, the way workers empty bags of fl our into a mixer is one of the main causes of fl our dust in the air, according to an IRSST study. "Sometimes the mixer is really big and they transfer 50-pound bags into the mixer several times in a row and if they don't pay attention, it will create huge clouds of dust," says Aubin. "Those clouds don't last very long, but it is still quite an exposure of dust for a few minutes." To reduce the dust, a worker can empty the bag slower and in a more delicate way. Workers need to adopt good housekeeping methods as well. They should keep the premises clean after the task or every day, depending on the level of production. They should not dry sweep fl our dust, but rather use HEPA vacuums for cleaning up spills. There might also be new pieces of machinery or tools that can reduce dust exposure. For example, bakeries could use dredgers or sprinklers to spread fl our rather than dusting by hand — but that might also require a culture shift in traditional bakeries. "Even though they are taught to at school, the traditional way of doing baking would be throwing handfuls of fl our on the counter and that would cause lots of dust suspension in the air, so that would be the thing to make them aware that you have to change that mentality," says Aubin. Bakery workers need training on work-related asthma and its signs and symptoms because they will often be the fi rst to identify the problem, says Pysklywec. Employers can also monitor employees for signs and symptoms of asthma to detect the disease early and assist in secondary prevention. "Ideally, employers will have some sort of surveillance to monitor workers for potential early signs or pre-clinical signs of breathing issues," says Pysklywec. "You might fi nd breathing issues before the person even knows it's a problem." Employers should conduct regular breathing tests for all workers. The tests are conducted and interpreted by trained health-care professionals to measure a patient's air fl ow. The test is brief and noninvasive — it simply involves blowing into a tube. If a worker is exhibiting symptoms of baker's asthma, the employer should remove her from the areas that have exposure to fl our dust and fi nd her another job, says Pysklywec. Theoretically, that person is allergic to something in the workplace and has to eliminate exposure to that sensitizer from here on in. This is different than what is commonly seen in health and safety where the response would be to engineer the exposure down. "You can't just say 'Well, you can keep working on that line, just make sure there is a fan near you.' That doesn't work for these people because if you're allergic to something, you are very reactive to even low levels of that exposure," says Pysklywec. If a worker's symptoms develop into asthma, to determine if the asthma is work-related, the worker goes into a specialist to take breathing tests when he is away from work for two weeks and then takes them again when he is at work for two weeks to see if there is a difference, says Pysklywec. In addition to the regular tests, patients are given a peak fl ow meter they can breathe into and record their results. It is patient- operated and they're encouraged to do it up to four times per day with readings at and away from work. Whether it is a proactive, preventive approach or a reaction to a baker's asthma diagnosis, there can be signifi - cant challenges with accommodating these workers. In a bakery, the only place where there wouldn't be fl our exposure would be in the offi ce, but many workers do not have applicable skills for that area. When Labelle first had her symptoms in October 2007, she was off work for eight days. At this point, she informed her employer and the union about her condition. She also fi led a claim with Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). When she went back to work in December, she was working in a different part of the plant that was newly built and used less fl our for the product it produced. But after only one shift, not only was she having breathing problems, she was throwing up. She ended up in the emergency room one evening with a severe asthma attack and was in the hospital for seven hours. She did not go back to work for several weeks. In January 2008, it was confi rmed she had baker's asthma. When she came back to work, her employer had to accommodate her new disease — and it resulted in a terrible experience. "For the fi rst year, they put me in a separate offi ce building where I sat and did nothing and after that they got me a job outside where I was to pick up garbage and cigarette butts," says Labelle. "And after two years, they fi red me and I thanked them for it. I was stuck. I had a family to support and I couldn't walk away." Labelle then changed career paths and went to college for a two-year course in social services. She has since moved out of Ontario and now works as an employment specialist for Prairie Branches in Biggar, Sask. While she is happy with this new chapter of her life, she is still plagued by her permanent disease of baker's asthma. She takes asthma medications every day, has a puffer for emergencies, suffers asthma attacks and battles major breathing dif- fi culties every time she sleeps. "I have the same nightmares of drowning due to a lack of oxygen," she says. Looking back at that Saturday at work when she couldn't breathe properly, Labelle regrets not seeking help right away and acknowledging the warning signs. "If I stayed out of the plant and if they would have caught the diagnosis and sent me through right away, I probably wouldn't have had it, but I just didn't understand," she says. "If it would have happened differently, it could have been corrected right away and I wouldn't have asthma and nothing would have happened." fi led a claim with Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). When she went back to work in December, she was working in a symptoms in October 2007, she was off work for eight days. At this point, she informed her employer and the union about her condition. She also fi led a claim with Ontario's Workplace December, she was working in a different part of the plant that was newly built and used less fl our for the product it could have been corrected right away and I wouldn't have asthma and nothing would have happened." fi led a claim with Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). When she went back to work in December, she was working in a different part of the plant that was newly built and used less fl our for the product

• Cover