Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-83-227-1466: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; Bremerton, Washington

Details

• Personal Author:
  Apol, Arvin G. ; Parrish, Roy G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  An outbreak of nasal and rectal bleeding among painters at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (SIC-3731) in Bremerton, Washington was investigated on July 18 and August 23, 1983. The evaluation was requested by the National Trades Council of Bremerton, Washington on behalf of seven affected painters. It was thought that the bleeding might be due to exposure to 2-ethoxyethanol (110805), a solvent used in some paints at the shipyard. The shipyard physician was interviewed, medical records of the affected painters were reviewed, and five of the painters were questioned about symptoms. Three painters suffered rectal bleeding, two suffered nasal bleeding, and three reported episodes of both nasal and rectal bleeding. Hemorrhoids were found to be the most probable cause of rectal bleeding in three of the four painters examined. Several painters reported that their gloves and coveralls often became saturated with paint, thus allowing for the possibility of skin absorption. The authors conclude that the bleeding episodes probably were not due to 2-ethoxyethanol exposure since reported symptoms are not among the known toxic effects of the chemical. They suggest that all exposures to 2-ethoxyethanol be controlled because the chemical can cause adverse reproductive effects, and that the painters see a physician if bleeding episodes recur.
• Subjects:
  Irritants Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Ships Skin Skin Absorption Solvents
• Keywords:
  2-Ethoxyethanol 2EE Cellosolve Clinical-symptoms EGM Ethyl Cellosolve Ethylene Glycol Monoethyl Ether Hazards-Unconfirmed HETA-83-227-1466 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Organic-solvents OSHA Region 10 Personal-protective-equipment Respiratory-irritants Shipbuilding-industry Ship Building And Repairing Skin-absorption

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA832271466
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Washington ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  13 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00139366
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-185353
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 83-227-1466, 1984 May ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  2-Ethoxyethanol (CAS RN 110-80-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1984
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3731 - Ship building and repairing - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dc60f6bf8e100969daf0575ec1ab5d3eb81e984c34ca78e5e5a9dd0e92ac88e1711208fe05a91a2f5976e298223ab4756dc7a32d28c28ba707706e327676d038
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172796/cdc_172796_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.95 MB ]