Investigation of greenhouse indoor air in terms of occupational health and safety

Operations in agricultural production are carried out with human labor or mechanization tools depending on technological applications. Due to the nature of the work, workers have to use different inputs and utilize tools and machines during operations. The use of various inputs and tools in agricultural production involves some risks in terms of occupational health and safety when not carried out under appropriate conditions. With these characteristics, agricultural production is considered among the risky sectors in terms of occupational health and safety. In the world and in Turkey, studies are carried out in different areas such as determining risky issues in terms of occupational health and safety, statistics, raising awareness to prevent occupational accidents, training and legal sanctions. Greenhouse cultivation, which requires intensive labor and capital, has a special place among agricultural production branches. Greenhouse cultivation has been practiced in Turkey for many years, and it is seen that the diversity has increased in recent years when the characteristics such as the products grown in greenhouse cultivation, heating methods and cultivation periods etc. are taken into consideration. Considering the diversity of the products grown in greenhouses, especially the production areas, the production and trade of the inputs used, it is seen that Antalya is the center of greenhouse agriculture in our country. Greenhouse activities, which have been carried out for many years, have continuously increased in terms of production areas. Today, total greenhouse areas in Turkey exceed 50000 ha. Although different levels of mechanization or automation systems are used in greenhouse cultivation depending on the infrastructure characteristics, there is an intensive use of human labor, especially for cultural operations. This feature increases the importance of occupational health and safety issues in greenhouse cultivation. Mechanization tools, air conditioning systems, chemicals, ergonomics, working at heights, electricity and indoor air properties are among the main issues that need to be considered in terms of occupational health and safety. When the issues related to occupational health and safety in Turkey are examined, it can be said that the studies on greenhouse production are limited compared to other production branches. In particular, it is seen that there is a need for studies in which direct data are collected directly from the field, which can also direct future studies. When the studies were examined, no study on indoor air in greenhouses, which is a closed environment, was found. In this study, it was aimed to create a database for greenhouse indoor air values by determining the amounts of particulate matter-PM (µg/m3), temperature (ºC) and relative humidity (%) different sizes during different processes. Spatial maps were created using data from a total of 5 greenhouses where different vegetables are grown in traditional structure. The values measured during the tillage-planting, maintenance and harvesting processes applied in greenhouses where tomato, pepper and cucumber products were compared with international standard values. It was determined that the relative humidity values measured during the operations in the September-January period were mostly below the limit values specified in the standards, while the temperature values were above the limit values. During harvesting operations, PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 values measured for all crops were well above the limit values in the standards.