Given the well-known carcinogenicity of hardwood dust, occupational exposure to oak wood dust has been determined in a furniture factory on different wood processing machines during sanding, planing, and milling. Determination of the mass concentrations of respirable and inhalable oak wood dust from ambient air was performed using personal sampling pumps and two types of filter holders: the Higgins-Dewell respirable dust cyclone, manufactured by Casella (Bedford, UK), and the inhalable dust IOM sampler manufactured by SKC (Dorset, UK). Out of a total of 30 values of inhalable mass concentration, 7 (23%) exceeded the occupational exposure level (OEL). The highest exposure levels for inhalable and respirable wood dust from the belt sander were 1.569 to 3.710 mg/m3 and 0.243 to 1.342 mg/m3, respectively. Worker exposure may be below the level of increased risk of 2 mg/m3 if a machine such as a planer or router is connected to a suction system. The share of respirable particles in the inhalable fraction ranged between 12% and 31%, and for samples with an inhalable mass concentration exceeding 2 mg/m3, the share was lower than 16%, with a slightly decreasing tendency. Thus, the risk of lower respiratory tract diseases increases with higher exposure to inhalable particles, and the OEL is an indirect measure of protection against exposure to respirable particles.

The paper gives an overview of chemical changes during heat treatment of wood and their influence on environment. Wood is one of the most used building materials because of its physical and technological properties. Various procedures improve its properties, and due to its environmental acceptability, heat treatment of wood is one of the most commonly used. Heat treatment causes changes in the cell walls and degradation of the main components of the wood structure (cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin) and extractives. Hemicelluloses, as the most unstable components, are broken down first, followed by cellulose and finally lignin. Degradation results in a change in chemical composition and chemical reactions of colour change causing a technological problem because wood processing tends to make the colour as uniform as possible. The uniformity of colour and the desired colour tone are obtained by the process of steaming and thermal modification. The processing temperature is the most important factor that causes all the changes. Due to its wide use, need has arisen to investigate the ecological consequences of such a heat treatment process, as well as the impact of harmful substances and types of compounds released during the process and their toxicity.