A cannabis worker died on the job from an asthma attack. It’s the first reported case in US

A 27-year-old woman suffered a fatal asthma attack last year in what health and workplace safety officials said was the U.S. cannabis industry’s first reported occupational asthma death.

The woman was working in a cannabis cultivation and processing facility when she experienced worsening work-related respiratory symptoms that ended in a fatal asthma attack in January 2022, officials said in a federal report published Thursday. The report states that allergic diseases such as asthma are a growing concern in the U.S. cannabis industry, which has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to a wave of state-level legalizations.

The report said the worker's death “illustrates missed opportunities for prevention, including workplace exposures, medical surveillance, and treatment according to the current asthma guidelines.” The report does not name the worker or the Massachusetts facility.

However, the report does state that evaluation of workers with new-onset or worsening asthma is essential in cannabis facilities. That approach could help prevent workplace deaths when paired with “with prompt diagnosis and medical management,” the report states.