At coffee shops, a danger in the air
Studies show workers exposed to high levels of lung-damaging chemicals
For the past two years, a small group of doctors and scientists with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have spent their days in coffee shops around the country.
❚ They weren’t there sipping their morning cup of joe. Their mission? To protect the health of the rapidly growing number of workers who make their living roasting, grinding, packaging and serving coffee. ❚ The doctors and scientists gathered information from corner cafés with a lone roasting oven to largescale processors with more than 150 workers. They assessed the various threats — primarily the air — and gave breathing and other
medical tests to employees.
Their preliminary findings, based on 11 site reports that have been released in recent months, indicate widespread problems that jeopardize employee health across the estimated $74-billiona-year industry.
In several of the facilities, workers were exposed to more than four or five times the recommended level of diacetyl, a dangerous compound known for rapidly destroying lungs. The CDC found dozens of workers with abnormal breathing tests and workplaces where cases of respiratory illness were more than twice the rate found in the general population — a discovery that suggests ties to worksite environments.
The agency is due to release nine more reports in coming months and is aggregating data from all 20 facilities and more than 450 workers to pinpoint tasks associated with the most harm.
“This is an emerging issue,” said Rachel Bailey, a medical officer with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the division of CDC conducting the study. “There are a lot of things coffee companies can do right away to protect their workers.”
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health does not disclose the companies where it does its research, known as Health Hazard Evaluations, to protect the privacy of the companies that invited the agency in to help identify risks. The agency does not have enforcement authority for workplace safety but makes recommendations on standards to OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The CDC’s inquiry followed a 2015 investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that exposed how naturally occurring diacetyl and 2,3-pentane-dione endanger the roughly 750,000 coffee operations workers in the U.S.
The importance of the issue continues to grow as the industry booms with boutique roasters.
The Journal Sentinel investigation also detailed how five workers at a Texas roasting facility became ill from a serious and sometimes fatal lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans.
At the time, little was known by many in the coffee industry about naturally occurring emissions from coffee.
The compounds are a byproduct of fermentation, formed when coffee is roasted, and released in greater amounts when the beans are ground.