One of the most widespread hazards of working in textile factories was breathing in cotton dust, which caused a chronic lung disease known as “brown lung” or byssinosis. But cotton dust was far from the only danger. Textile workers historically faced, and in many parts of the world still face, a range of serious health threats including hearing damage, chemical exposure, extreme heat, repetitive injuries, and fire.
Cotton Dust and Brown Lung Disease
The signature occupational disease of textile work is byssinosis, commonly called brown lung. Cotton fibers carry bacteria on their surface, and those bacteria contain a toxin that triggers inflammation deep in the lungs. Over time, this inflammation scars the lung tissue (a process called fibrosis), making it progressively harder to breathe.
Early symptoms include coughing, chest tightness, and wheezing, typically appearing within a few hours of arriving at work. Workers gave the condition a telling nickname: “Monday fever,” because symptoms were worst at the start of each workweek after a weekend away from the dust. As the week continued and the body adjusted to the exposure, symptoms temporarily eased, which made it easy for employers to dismiss the problem. With years of exposure, the damage became permanent, progressing into chronic bronchitis and irreversible fibrosis.
Modern U.S. regulations now cap the amount of respirable cotton dust allowed in the air. In yarn manufacturing areas, the limit is 200 micrograms per cubic meter over an eight-hour shift, while weaving and slashing areas are allowed up to 750 micrograms per cubic meter. These standards didn’t exist for most of the industry’s history, meaning generations of mill workers inhaled far higher concentrations with no protection.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Textile mills are extraordinarily loud. Measurements from weaving rooms show average noise levels of 93 to 95 decibels across an eight-hour shift, well above the 85-decibel threshold where hearing damage begins. For context, 95 decibels is roughly as loud as a motorcycle engine running continuously next to you, all day long.
That level of noise gradually destroys the tiny hair cells inside the inner ear that convert sound into nerve signals. Once those cells are gone, they don’t regenerate. A study of textile mill workers found that those with more than nine years on the job were six times more likely to have measurable hearing loss than workers with nine years or less. The damage is permanent, affects both ears, and worsens with every additional year of exposure. In historical mills, ear protection was nonexistent, and many long-term workers lost significant hearing by middle age.
Chemical Exposure in Dyeing
Dyeing textiles involves powdered chemicals that workers can inhale, swallow, or absorb through the skin. These exposures cause occupational asthma, eczema, and severe allergic reactions. Some dye compounds are recognized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as potential carcinogens.
In historical factories, workers handled these powders with bare hands and no respiratory protection, mixing dyes in poorly ventilated rooms. Even in modern facilities, controlling dye dust requires specialized engineering controls like ventilated enclosures and dust-capture hoods, equipment that many factories worldwide still lack.
Extreme Heat and Humidity
Textile factories have always been hot. Cotton fibers break less often when they’re kept moist, so mills deliberately maintained high humidity levels. Combined with the heat thrown off by rows of mechanical looms and other equipment, indoor temperatures in garment factories can reach 38°C to 40°C (100°F to 104°F) during peak hours.
Workers in these conditions commonly experience headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, and excessive sweating. Some develop gastrointestinal problems, loss of appetite, or frequent thirst and dry throat. Long-term chronic heat exposure has been linked to cardiovascular disease, kidney problems, and mental health effects. In 19th-century mills, where workers often labored 12 or more hours a day in sealed buildings with no mechanical cooling, heat-related illness was a constant threat.
Repetitive Strain and Musculoskeletal Damage
Operating a loom requires sustained sitting combined with repetitive arm, hand, and leg movements to work pedals and shuttles. Weavers hold their arms in extended postures for hours at a time. This combination of repetitive motion and prolonged static postures takes a cumulative toll on the body, causing pain and damage in the neck, shoulders, wrists, lower back, and knees.
Over years of work, these strains can progress into long-term conditions like arthritis, spinal disorders, and joint degeneration. For some workers, the physical disability becomes severe enough to interfere with daily activities outside of work. In historical mills, children as young as seven or eight performed these same repetitive tasks on bodies that were still growing, compounding the damage.
Fire and Explosion Risk
Textile materials, whether cotton, wool, or synthetic fibers, are inherently flammable. During manufacturing, fine fibers and lint constantly shed into the air and settle on machinery, ductwork, and every available surface. This creates two distinct fire risks. Accumulated lint on a hot machine or near a spark can ignite and spread flame rapidly through a factory. Even more dangerous, airborne cotton dust can form explosive clouds that detonate when they meet an ignition source, similar to the grain elevator explosions that occur in agriculture.
Historical textile factories were especially vulnerable because they packed flammable materials, open flames or gas lighting, and hundreds of workers into multi-story buildings with narrow stairwells and locked doors. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, which killed 146 garment workers in New York City, became the most infamous example of how deadly these conditions could be.
Synthetic Fibers Brought New Risks
When synthetic materials like polyester and nylon entered textile manufacturing in the 20th century, they introduced a different set of respiratory hazards. Inhaling synthetic fiber particles can cause asthma, chronic bronchitis, and a condition called extrinsic allergic alveolitis, where the lungs’ air sacs become inflamed from an immune reaction to the particles. In cases caught early, the outlook is generally good once exposure stops. But when the damage has progressed to widespread lung scarring, it becomes irreversible.
The shift from natural to synthetic fibers didn’t eliminate respiratory disease in textile work. It simply changed which particles were doing the damage.