Is dust a major concern for the cannabis industry?

Added on 09 June 2023

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Is dust a major concern for the cannabis industry?

Powder & Bulk Solids explores how awareness of dust-related health and safety issues in cannabis facilities is growing as the industry expands.

Every industry that works with dry, dusty materials encounters a variety of health and safety hazards from airborne pathogens to combustible dust fires and explosions. The cannabis industry is no exception. These hazards will likely receive more attention in the coming months and years after reports emerged this month of the first fatality of a worker in the cannabis industry linked to dust. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited and fined a licensed marijuana facility in Massachusetts after an employee died in January following exposure to ground dried marijuana.

A non-profit organization representing occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) professionals, The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), launched the Cannabis Industry Health and Safety Committee several years ago to explore ways to navigate potential hazards in the cannabis industry. The group is supporting government-backed research on cannabis industry hazards and the distribution of best practices for controlling or mitigating the concerns, as well as employer-employee education outreach programs with state and federal entities to increase knowledge of hazards and how to approach them.

While occupational exposure to all types of dust can lead to negative health outcomes for workers, ranging from mild maladies like inflammation of nasal passages to serious lung diseases, some observers suggest that cannabis dust poses risks that are specific to that industry.