Tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen. Workers in the hospitality industry may be exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace, especially in environments like casinos and bars/restaurants.

Health care professionals are at risk of occupational influenza exposure; during a pandemic influenza, anyone in a close environment is at risk, including those in an office environment.

The primary risk factor for COPD globally is tobacco smoking. Of those who smoke, about 20% will get COPD, and of those who are lifelong smokers, about half will get COPD. In the United States and United Kingdom, of those with COPD, 80–95% are either current smokers or previously smoked. The likelihood of developing COPD increases with the total smoke exposure. Additionally, women are more susceptible to the harmful effects of smoke than men. In nonsmokers, secondhand smoke is the cause of about 20% of cases. Other types of smoke, such as, marijuana, cigar, and water-pipe smoke, also confer a risk. Water-pipe smoke appears to be as harmful as smoking cigarettes. Problems from marijuana smoke may only be with heavy use. Women who smoke during pregnancy may increase the risk of COPD in their child. For the same amount of cigarette smoking, women have a higher risk of COPD than men.

Intense and prolonged exposure to workplace dusts, chemicals, and fumes increases the risk of COPD in both smokers and nonsmokers. Workplace exposures are believed to be the cause in 10–20% of cases. In the United States, they are believed to be related to more than 30% of cases among those who have never smoked and probably represent a greater risk in countries without sufficient regulations.

A number of industries and sources have been implicated, including high levels of dust in coal mining, gold mining, and the cotton textile industry, occupations involving cadmium and isocyanates, and fumes from welding. Working in agriculture is also a risk. In some professions, the risks have been estimated as equivalent to that of one-half to two packs of cigarettes a day. Silica dust and fiberglass dust exposure can also lead to COPD, with the risk unrelated to that for silicosis. The negative effects of dust exposure and cigarette smoke exposure appear to be additive or possibly more than additive.

There are many industrial inhalants that are known to cause various types of bronchiolitis, including bronchiolitis obliterans.

Industrial workers who have presented with bronchiolitis:

- nylon-flock workers

- workers who spray prints onto textiles with polyamide-amine dyes

- battery workers who are exposed to thionyl chloride fumes

- workers at plants that use or manufacture flavorings, e.g. diacetyl butter-like flavoring

Asbestos can cause lung cancer that is identical to lung cancer from other causes. Exposure to asbestos is associated with all major histological types of lung carcinoma (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, large-cell carcinoma and small-cell carcinoma). The latency period between exposure and development of lung cancer is 20 to 30 years. It is estimated that 3%-8% of all lung cancers are related to asbestos. The risk of developing lung cancer depends on the level, duration, and frequency of asbestos exposure (cumulative exposure). Smoking and individual susceptibility are other contributing factors towards lung cancer. Smokers who have been exposed to asbestos are at far greater risk of lung cancer. Smoking and asbestos exposure have a multiplicative (synergistic) effect on the risk of lung cancer. Symptoms include chronic cough, chest pain, breathlessness, haemoptysis (coughing up blood), wheezing or hoarseness of the voice, weight loss and fatigue. Treatment involves surgical removal of the cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of these (multimodality treatment). Prognosis is generally poor unless the cancer is detected in its early stages. Out of all patients diagnosed with lung cancer, only 15% survive for five years after diagnosis.

Bronchiolitis obliterans has many possible causes, including collagen vascular disease, transplant rejection in organ transplant patients, viral infection (respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, HIV, cytomegalovirus), Stevens-Johnson syndrome, Pneumocystis pneumonia, drug reaction, aspiration and complications of prematurity (bronchopulmonary dysplasia), and exposure to toxic fumes, including diacetyl, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, chlorine, thionyl chloride, methyl isocyanate, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, phosgene, polyamide-amine dyes, mustard gas and ozone. It can also be present in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Certain orally administrated emergency medications, such as activated charcoal, have been known to cause it when aspirated. The ingestion of large doses of papaverine in the vegetable Sauropus androgynus has caused it. Additionally, the disorder may be idiopathic (without known cause).

Silicosis resulted in 46,000 deaths in 2013 down from 55,000 deaths in 1990.

Pneumoconiosis is an occupational lung disease and a restrictive lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust, often in mines and from agriculture.

In 2013, it resulted in 260,000 deaths, up from 251,000 deaths in 1990. Of these deaths, 46,000 were due to silicosis, 24,000 due to asbestosis and 25,000 due to coal workers pneumoconiosis.

Flock worker's lung is caused by exposure to small pieces of flock, usually nylon, created during the flocking process and inhaled. Exposure to rotary-cut flock particulates is the main risk factor; whether or not other types of flock cause this pulmonary fibrosis is not yet determined. Other types of flock include rayon, polypropylene, and polyethylene. Workers exposed to nylon, polypropylene, polyethylene, and rayon flocking debris have developed flock worker's lung. Exposure to higher concentrations of respirable flock particles is associated with more severe disease.

Whether or not smoking affects the progression or incidence of flock worker's lung is a topic of ongoing research as of 2015. Research in rats has shown that nylon flocking is a causative agent.

Affected workers should be offered alternative employment. Continued exposure leads to development of persistent symptoms and progressive decline in FEV1.

Flock worker's lung can be prevented with engineering controls that protect workers from inhaling flock. Engineering controls to prevent inhalation of flock can include using guillotine cutters rather than rotary cutters, and ensuring that blades are sharp, since dull blades shear off more respirable particles. Flocking plants have also implemented medical surveillance programs for workers to diagnose cases at an earlier stage. Another technique for preventing flock worker's lung is cleaning the workplace with alternatives to compressed air in order to avoid resuspending particulates in the air.

The best way to prevent silicosis is to identify work-place activities that produce respirable crystalline silica dust and then to eliminate or control the dust ("primary prevention"). Water spray is often used where dust emanates. Dust can also be controlled through dry air filtering.

Following observations on industry workers in Lucknow (India), experiments on rats found that jaggery (a traditional sugar) had a preventive action against silicosis.

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease or black lung, is caused by long exposure to coal dust. It is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. It is similar to both silicosis from inhaling silica dust and to the long-term effects of tobacco smoking. Inhaled coal dust progressively builds up in the lungs and cannot be removed by the body; this leads to inflammation, fibrosis, and in worse cases, necrosis.

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis, severe state, develops after the initial, milder form of the disease known as anthracosis ("anthrac" — coal, carbon). This is often asymptomatic and is found to at least some extent in all urban dwellers due to air pollution. Prolonged exposure to large amounts of coal dust can result in more serious forms of the disease, "simple coal workers' pneumoconiosis" and "complicated coal workers' pneumoconiosis" (or progressive massive fibrosis, or PMF). More commonly, workers exposed to coal dust develop industrial bronchitis, clinically defined as chronic bronchitis (i.e. productive cough for 3 months per year for at least 2 years) associated with workplace dust exposure. The incidence of industrial bronchitis varies with age, job, exposure, and smoking. In nonsmokers (who are less prone to develop bronchitis than smokers), studies of coal miners have shown a 16% to 17% incidence of industrial bronchitis.

In 2013 CWP resulted in 25,000 deaths down from 29,000 deaths in 1990.

The number of workers in the United States exposed to beryllium vary but has been estimated to be as high as 800,000 during the 1960s and 1970s. A more recent study estimated the number of exposed workers in the United States from in 1996 to be around 134,000.

The rate of workers becoming sensitized to beryllium varies based on genetics and exposure levels. In one study researchers found the prevalence of beryllium sensitization to range from 9 - 19% depending on the industry. Many workers who are found to be sensitive to beryllium also meet the diagnostic criteria for CBD. In one study of nuclear workers, among those who were sensitized to beryllium, 66% were found to have CBD as well. The rate of progression from beryllium sensitization to CBD has been estimated to be approximately 6-8% per year. Stopping exposure to beryllium in those sensitized has not been definitively shown to stop the progression to CBD.

The overall prevalence of CBD among workers exposed to beryllium has ranged from 1 – 5% depending on industry and time period of study.

The general population is unlikely to develop acute or chronic beryllium disease because ambient air levels of beryllium are normally very low (<0.03 ng/m). However, a study found 1% of people living within 3/4 of a mile of a beryllium plant in Lorain, Ohio, had berylliosis after exposure to concentrations estimated to be less than 1 milligram per cubic metre of air. In the United States the Beryllium Case Registry contained 900 records, early cases relating to extraction and fluorescent lamp manufacture, later ones coming from the aerospace, ceramics and metallurgical industries.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan (JNIOSH) set limits for acceptable exposure at 0.0003 mg/m after the discovery of indium lung. Methods for reducing indium exposure are thought to be the best mode of protection. Medical surveillance of indium workers is also a method of prevention.

Asbestosis is a chronic lung disease caused by scarring of lung tissue, which results from prolonged exposure to asbestos. It is defined as diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis secondary to asbestos exposure. It initially affects the lung bases and usually manifests after 15 or more years from initial exposure. It occurs after high intensity and/or long-term exposure to asbestos. Asbestos-related fibrosis is progressive because it continues to progress in the lung even if no further asbestos is inhaled. The scar tissue causes the alveolar walls to thicken, reducing the lung capacity which leads to the patient experiencing shortness of breath (dyspnea). Sufferers are at an increased risk for heart failure and certain malignancies.

According to a recent study, the main risk factors for RA-ILD are advancing age, male sex, greater RA disease activity, rheumatoid factor (RF) positivity, and elevated titers of anticitrullinated protein antibodies such as anticyclic citrullinated peptide. Cigarette smoking also appears to increase risk of RA-ILD, especially in patients with human leukocyte antigen DRB1.

A recently published retrospective study by a team from Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital in Beijing, China, supported three of the risk factors listed for RA-ILD and identified an additional risk factor. In that study of 550 RA patients, logistic regression analysis of data collected on the 237 (43%) with ILD revealed that age, smoking, RF positivity, and elevated lactate dehydrogenase closely correlated with ILD.

Recent studies have identified risk factors for disease progression and mortality. A retrospective study of 167 patients with RA-ILD determined that the usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) was a risk factor for progression, as were severe disease upon diagnosis and rate of change in pulmonary function test results in the first 6 months after diagnosis.

A study of 59 RA-ILD patients found no median survival difference between those with the UIP pattern and those without it. But the UIP group had more deaths, hospital admissions, need for supplemental oxygen, and decline in lung function.

Byssinosis, also called "brown lung disease" or "Monday fever", is an occupational lung disease caused by exposure to cotton dust in inadequately ventilated working environments. Byssinosis commonly occurs in workers who are employed in yarn and fabric manufacture industries. It is now thought that the cotton dust directly causes the disease and some believe that the causative agents are endotoxins that come from the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria that grow on the cotton. Although bacterial endotoxin is a likely cause, the absence of similar symptoms in workers in other industries exposed to endotoxins makes this uncertain.

Of the 81 byssinosis-related fatalities reported in the United States between 1990 and 1999, 48% included an occupation in the yarn, thread, and fabric industry on the victim's death certificate. This disease often occurred in the times of the industrial revolution. Most commonly young girls working in mills or other textile factories would be afflicted with this disease. In the United States, from 1996 to 2005, North Carolina accounted for about 37% of all deaths caused by byssinosis, with 31, followed by South Carolina (8) and Georgia (7).

The term "brown lung" is a misnomer, as the lungs of affected individuals are not brown.

In 2013 pneumoconiosis resulted in 260,000 deaths up from 251,000 deaths in 1990. Of these deaths 46,000 were due to silicosis, 24,000 due to asbestosis and 25,000 due to coal workers pneumoconiosis.

Indium lung is caused by exposure to indium tin oxide in a variety of occupational contexts, including reclamation and production. Exposure to indium tin oxide as it reacts can lead to exposure to indium metal, indium hydroxide, and indium oxide. The exact mechanism of pathogenesis is unknown, but it is hypothesized that indium may exacerbate existing autoimmune disorders or that phagocytosis of indium by alveolar macrophages may cause dysfunction in the macrophages.

Clinically, the most serious and immediate complication is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which usually occurs within 24 h. Those with significant lower airway involvement may develop bacterial infection. Importantly, victims suffering body surface burn and smoke inhalation are the most susceptible. Thermal injury combined with inhalation injury compromises pulmonary function, producing microvascular hyperpermeability that leads to a significant increase in lung lymph flow and pulmonary edema. The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 left many people with impaired lung function. A study of firefighters and EMS workers enrolled in the FDNY WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, whose lung function was tested prior to 9/11, documented a steep decline in lung function in the first year after 9/11. A new study that includes a thousand additional workers shows that the declines have persisted over time. Prior to 9/11, 3% of firefighters had below-normal lung function, one year after 9/11 nearly 19% did, and six years later it stabilized at 13%. Ten to 14 days after acute exposure to some agents (e.g. ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury), some patients develop bronchiolitis obliterans progressing to ARDS. Bronchiolitis obliterans with organized pneumonia can ensue when granulation tissue accumulates in the terminal airways and alveolar ducts during the body's reparative process. A minority of these patients develop late pulmonary fibrosis. Also at enhanced risk are persons with co-morbidities. Several studies report that both aged persons and smokers are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of inhalation injury.

Approximately 21% of the adults affected by asthma report an aggravation of their symptoms while at work and an improvement when away, which implies that they may be suffering from occupational asthma. In the United States, occupational asthma is the most common occupational lung disease. Today, asthma affects as much as 15% of the Canadian population, a statistic reflective of other developed countries, and has increased fourfold in the last 20 years. Various reasons can be identified for this increase, including increase environmental pollution, better diagnostic ability, and greater awareness.

Respiratory disease is a common and significant cause of illness and death around the world. In the US, approximately 1 billion "common colds" occur each year. A study found that in 2010, there were approximately 6.8 million emergency department visits for respiratory disorders in the U.S. for patients under the age of 18. In 2012, respiratory conditions were the most frequent reasons for hospital stays among children.

In the UK, approximately 1 in 7 individuals are affected by some form of chronic lung disease, most commonly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Respiratory diseases (including lung cancer) are responsible for over 10% of hospitalizations and over 16% of deaths in Canada.

In 2011, respiratory disease with ventilator support accounted for 93.3% of ICU utilization in the United States.

There is no cure available for asbestosis. Oxygen therapy at home is often necessary to relieve the shortness of breath and correct underlying low blood oxygen levels. Supportive treatment of symptoms includes respiratory physiotherapy to remove secretions from the lungs by postural drainage, chest percussion, and vibration. Nebulized medications may be prescribed in order to loosen secretions or treat underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Immunization against pneumococcal pneumonia and annual influenza vaccination is administered due to increased sensitivity to the diseases. Those with asbestosis are at increased risk for certain cancers. If the person smokes, quitting the habit reduces further damage. Periodic pulmonary function tests, chest x-rays, and clinical evaluations, including cancer screening/evaluations, are given to detect additional hazards.