Analysis of Particulate Matter and Respiratory symptoms of Bakery Workers in a Tertiary Educational Institution South-South Nigeria

One major factor causing deterioration of air quality adversely affecting human health is Particulate Matter (PM). PM is the sum of all solid and liquid particles suspended in air, which include organic and inorganic particles such as dust, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. This is a comparative study of an institutional bakery and office workers of the same institution. The study compared the airborne particulate matter density of the sections and respiratory symptoms of the workers. The study group comprised of fifteen-(15) bakery workers (mixers, dough makers and bakers) exposed to flour dust who were engaged in various tasks in the baking process and fifteen-(15) control group of workers in administrative section of a department in the same institution. Data collected include measurement of dust using Microdust Pro real time dust monitor, laboratory result of dust done to elicit Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) components and lung function tests. The results were statistically analyzed using software package IBM SPSS version 16. The study revealed significant higher dust concentration and PAH components in the bakery than the control area. In addition, the lung function results were significantly higher in the bakery workers than administrative staff.Clearly, the clinical significance of the results of this study is theobservation that exposed bottling factory workers are at risk of developing respiratory symptoms andspirometric abnormalities.