Wood dust and sawdust: what OSHA, HSE, CCOHS, WorkSafeBC and WorkSafe NZ say

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It is not medical advice and gives no fitting or product instructions. None of the five sources is written for tree work. Each one is about wood dust in general, and the examples they give are sawing, routing, sanding and woodworking or sawmill settings. Whether a crew's chipping, grinding or milling produces the same dust is not something these pages say. The guide on sawmilling and chainsaw milling covers milling rules.

Five sources side by side

Source	What it says
OSHA, Wood Dust overview	Wood dust becomes a potential health problem when particles from processes such as sanding and cutting become airborne. Breathing them may cause allergic respiratory symptoms, mucosal and non-allergic respiratory symptoms, and cancer. OSHA says the extent of these hazards and the wood types involved have not been clearly established.
HSE, information sheet 23	All wood dust is a substance hazardous to health. Workplace exposure limits: 3 mg/m3 for hardwood dust, 5 mg/m3 for softwood dust, as 8-hour averages.
CCOHS, wood dust health effects	Wood dust is Group 1, carcinogenic to humans, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lists irritation, dermatitis and respiratory effects.
WorkSafeBC, wood dust	Airborne wood dust is an exposure hazard. Activities likely to produce high levels include sawing, routing, sanding, blowing dust off with compressed air and emptying dust extraction bags.
WorkSafe New Zealand, dust topic	Lists a quick guide, Wood dust: controlling the risks, for businesses that do woodworking, and two toolbox talks on wood dust.

OSHA

The agency's own wood dust overview links to its eTools for sawmills and woodworking, which cover wood dust as a health hazard. OSHA's tree care standards page lists the respiratory protection section 29 CFR 1910.134 among its highlighted standards for tree care. That section says that for diseases caused by breathing contaminated air the primary objective is to prevent contamination by engineering controls as far as feasible, such as enclosing the operation, ventilation and substituting less toxic materials. Where those are not feasible, or while they are being put in place, appropriate respirators are used. It says the employer provides respirators suitable for the purpose and keeps a respiratory protection program. The section text on eCFR also has paragraphs on medical evaluation, fit testing and annual training. The overview says exposures to wood dust are addressed in specific OSHA standards for general industry, and it does not name 1910.134. The 1910.134 text does not name wood dust.

HSE

The HSE information sheet Wood dust: controlling the risks (WIS23, revision 3) is written for woodworking employers. It says all wood dust is hazardous to health because it can cause serious non-reversible problems including asthma, dermatitis and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, and that hardwood dust can also cause a rare type of nasal cancer. It adds that wood dust is flammable and can cause fire or explosion. Under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations it says the employer must assess the risk and prevent or adequately control exposure. Where a substance can cause occupational cancer or asthma, exposure is reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. For mixtures of hardwood and softwood dusts the hardwood limit applies to all wood dust in the mixture. The sheet says respiratory protective equipment is required when levels cannot be controlled by other means. Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

CCOHS

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety page Wood Dust, Health Effects says health issues come from natural chemicals in wood and from bacteria, moulds or fungi in it. It says the IARC finds wood dust causes cancer of the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and nasopharynx. It lists irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, dermatitis, decreased lung capacity, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and occupational asthma. It says toxic effects are specific to the wood species and gives a table of reported effects for woods including beech, cedar, maple, oak and pine. The page covers untreated wood.

WorkSafeBC and WorkSafe New Zealand

The regulator's WorkSafeBC wood dust page is short and lists the high-exposure activities in the table above, with links to a post-wildfire ash risk advisory and a combustible wood dust video. The WorkSafe New Zealand dust page lists guidance on on-tool extraction and on-tool water suppression for dust, and the wood dust quick guide for woodworking businesses. This page has not read those guides.