National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
AUTHOR ABSTRACT
The National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requests assistance in preventing deaths
of farm workers in manure pits. An urgent need exists to inform farm owners and
workers about the dangers of entering such pits, where oxygen- deficient, toxic,
and/or explosive atmospheres often result from fermentation of the wastes in confined
areas. These hazards have been known for several years. However, recent NIOSH
investigations conducted under the NIOSH Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology
(FACE) Program suggest that farm workers are unaware of the danger, and many deaths
continue to occur as a result of entry into manure pits.
This Alert describes seven
deaths from asphyxiation (suffocation) that occurred during two incidents involving
entry into manure pits. The recommendations included in the Alert should be followed
by all farm owners and operators who have manure pits on their property. Editors
of appropriate trade journals, agriculture extension agents, farm owners and operators,
and those in the agricultural trades are requested to bring the recommendations
in this Alert to the attention of all workers who are at risk.
SOURCE AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
ID#
SOURCE:
Cincinnati, Ohio: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; 1990.
7.
NLOM ID#:
No ID#.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not
represent NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears
by permission of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
document was extracted from the CDC-NIOSH Epidemiology of
Farm Related Injuries: Bibliography With Abstracts, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers
for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
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