In the light of studies of dustiness in agriculture conducted in Poland and
abroad, which deal exclusively with dust risk while performing selected
occupations, the results presented in this article are a subsequent attempt to
recognize annual exposure to dust at workplaces in agriculture. This recognition
concerns the workplace of private farmers - typical of Polish agriculture - on
family farms of various profiles of production. The study covered 10 selected
farms: four animal breeding farms, four specialised cultivation farms, and two
traditional mixed-production farms comprising animal breeding and plant
cultivation. The results of the study showed an unequal distribution of the
working time load and exposure to dust among the farmers examined during the
whole year. The monthly working time limit ranged from 53.6-208.8% of the legal
working time. The values of the mean weighted monthly concentrations of total
dust ranged within 1.2-33.9 mg m^-3, and those of respirable dust -
0.3-4.0 mg m^-3, the highest values being observed in August and
September. Mean weighted monthly concentrations describing an average level of
farmers' exposure to total dust (7.7-21.9 mg m^-3), together with the
confidence intervals, remain above the occupational exposure limit (4.0 mg
m^-3), which is equivalent to hazardous conditions. In the case of
respirable dust the results obtained show allowable conditions. Despite this,
the dusty working conditions of the farmers in the study should be regarded as
hazardous, due to the high level of exposure to total dust observed and
potentially high contents of pathogenic components. The highest level of
exposure was noted on farms engaged in potato production and marketing, followed
by traditional farms carrying out mixed production, while the lowest level of
exposure was observed on farms engaged in dairy cattle breeding.