Effects of long term exposure to swimming pool chemicals
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I have been a swimming teacher for 11 years in my present pool and 10 years in other pools, working 6 hours every schoolday. For the last 3 years I have been suffering from spells of respiratory problems, but not severe enough to have more than the odd day off work. I have just seen a consultant who thinks that I have an inflamed thorax due to prolonged exposure to irritants such as hypochlorite. I have a great deal of mucous and cough most days. I am concerned that my working environment is unhealthy due to the low roof and only 2 extractor fans. Two of my colleagues working in similar pools have the same problems but worse. I have written to my head teacher explaining that I am looking for another job due to my working environment. There is going to be some kind of test of air quality in the pool where my colleague works. I feel that if I do not look for another job my health will deteriorate. I am hoping that you can advise me on the effects of long-term exposure to pool chemicals.
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The most important to document now is whether the swimming pool is causing your problem, and what the problem is. I would strongly recommend keeping serial peak flow measurements as per the instructions in this section of the website. I would be pleased to analyse tham for you if you send me copies. The record needs to include periods at and away from work, and should be for 3-4 weeks. Your should try and make measurements aproximately 2-hourly. This could be done on waking, on arriving at the pool, during each break away from the poolside, on leaving, mid evening and bedtime, with similar timing on days away from work. If this shows asthma worse on workdays, which ismpossible,you best approach is to your occupational health service who should ensure that changes are made to your working environment to makem it safe for you, and any others who also work there. This may be doing something about the pool air, or the pool that you work in.
From my experience the main problem relates to the air above the pool, rather than the water. If your pool water is treated with hypochlorite, this reacts with sweat and urine to form chloramines, the most common one is nitrogen trichloride. This gets into the air and is what chlorine treated indoor pools smell of. There is very little if any chlorine relased into the air, even in very smelly pools, and measuring chlorine in air is in my experience unhelpful. It is therefor nitrogen trichloride that needs to be measured in the air. Most indoor pools spend much more time worrying about the water quality than the air quality. Good ventilation with outdoor air is important to remove the nitrogen trichloride, which can be the cause of asthma and rhinitis. If you have developed asthma due to the chloramines, it is likely that you will need to work in a pool with much better ventilation, or one that uses another system for water treatment, such as bromine. Air levels of nitrogen trichloride increase with the number and dirtyness of the swimmers and often increase througout the day. Leaving the ventilation on overnight might also help.
The link below has more information.
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