Lung conditions following exposure to poultry/amonia/dust

I am helping a friend with something. She owns and runs a successful racehorse training stables and employs 25 people. Recently a company has made an application for planning permission to build 5 large sheds housing 223000 broiler chickens. The vents from the buildings will be within a few metres of where the staff walk or ride the horses up to the gallops. Each member of staff (and horses) will pass the extraction fans 8 to 10 times per day. We have information from the company applying for the planning permission indicating that amonia and dust from the chickens bedding will be funnelled downwind. The most common wind direction will be straight over my friend's racing stables. She is concerned about the health of her employees (and the horses but a vet is advising her on that). We have been on the Health and Safety Executive web-side and see that there is a lot of information and advice for people who work inside chicken sheds. Is there a health risk to my friend's employees if they are exposed to the dust extracted 8 to 10 times per day?

Occupational Asthma, Employer, 5/1/2012, 5/14/2012,

Your vet probably knows more about the exposures than I do. What is not good for a horse is unlikely to be good for man. There are large levels of endotoxin in some sheds with many confined animals or birds, as well as the ammonia. The nuisance effects also need to be considered. It should be possible to ventilate the chicken sheds without contaminating the environment (higher chimneys, better scrubbing of extract air etc). This is something outside my field.

5/14/2012