Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
who
workers
why
noxious gases including
hydrogen sulfide, methane,
and ammonia, dust, and harmful
bacteria generated by decomposing
manure that can cause toxic,
oxygen-deficient, and/or explosive
atmospheres and respiratory
problems, including asthma,
bronchitis, acute respiratory
distress syndrome, and organic
dust toxic syndrome, in
1 in 4 workers
what
massive pits storing the
overwhelming amount of manure
produced by factory-farmed animals
in which workers can—and do—die
from asphyxiation, succumbing to
toxic gases, and attempting to
rescue others
the
shit pit
when
where
fatalities frequent enough
for the national institute for
occupational safety and health
to issue such publications as
“preventing deaths of farm
workers in manure pits” and
“niosh warns: manure pits
continue to claim lives”
underground or, in the
case of egg factory farms,
on the ground-floor of a
warehouse-like shed
long hours and occupational health risks. The chief source of these
health hazards is the collection and disposal of waste produced
by the vast numbers of animals confined in a single facility. For ex-
ample, the method of collecting manure that is typical of dairy and
pig factory farms is the use of underground manure storage pits or
outdoor manure “lagoons,” the latter having the capacity to hold
as much as 20 to 45 million gallons of waste.
Decomposing manure generates noxious gases such as hydro-
gen sulfide, methane, and ammonia, as well as dust and harm-
ful bacteria. Hydrogen sulfide, which can build up to toxic levels
in underground manure storage pits, has been deemed “a lead-
ing cause of sudden death in the workplace” by the National In-
