Clinical Management When the Environment Can Be Changed

¹ The Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

The principles of dealing with working environments where occupational respiratory disease occurs are no different when the disease is asthma than when the disease is pneumonoconiosis or any other respiratory illness. The choice of abatement strategies depends on the particular process, the physical structure of the equipment, and the rate of aerosolization of the allergen. When feasible, primary effort should be placed on preventing aerosolization. Increased ventilation and air filtration are feasible only when allergen production rate is low or localized to areas where exhaust fans can remove it before it reaches the workers' breathing zone.