Diesel Exhaust Dangers and Safeguards – Picture This

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It is estimated that 800 cases of cancer are caused by workplace exposure to diesel exhaust emissions every year.

Workers most likely to be exposed to diesel exhaust include drive-in booth operators, miners, construction workers, oil and gas workers, forklift drivers, loading dock workers, truck drivers, farmworkers, stevedores, and vehicle maintenance workers.

The major source of workplace exposure to diesel exhaust is from heavy vehicles that use diesel fume like trucks, buses, trains, tractors, ships, bulldozers and fork lift trucks.

Work planning and scheduling is a method of reducing plant and worker interaction. Some workers, for example diesel plant operators can work from fully sealed and air-conditioned cabins. In vehicle repair workshops a separate area could be used for diesel plant to prevent exposure to workers in other areas.

Respiratory protective equipment (RPE) may be appropriate in some situations where there is diesel exhaust exposure in the workplace.