Waste Anesthetic Gases: Occupational Hazards in Hospitals

Details

• Journal Article:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Waste anesthetic gases are small amounts of volatile anesthetic gases that leak from the patient's anesthetic breathing circuit* into the air of operating rooms during delivery of anesthesia. These gases may also be exhaled by patients recovering from anesthesia. Waste anesthetic gases include both nitrous oxide and halogenated anesthetics such as halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, desflurane, sevoflurane, and methoxyflurane (no longer used in the United States). The halogenated anesthetics are often administered in combination with nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide and some of the halogenated anesthetics may pose a hazard to hospital workers. The purpose of this brochure is to do the following: 1. Increase awareness about the adverse health effects of waste anesthetic gases; 2. Describe how workers are exposed to waste anesthetic gases; 3. Recommend work practices to reduce these exposures; 4. Identify methods to minimize leakage of anesthetic gases into the work environment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Content Notes:
  "CDC workplace safety and health"--Cover.
  
  Includes bibliographical references (p. 7-9).
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anesthesia Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Hospitals Occupational Health Safety Waste Management
• Keywords:
  Anesthesia; Anesthesiology; Health-care-facilities; Health-care-personnel; Hospital-equipment; Halogenated-compounds
• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2007-151, 2007 Sep; :1-9
• Series:
  NIOSH Numbered Publications
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB2007151
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Pamphlet or Booklet
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  17 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032706
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2008-100198
• CAS Registry Number:
  (±)-Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7) ; Enflurane (CAS RN 13838-16-9) ; Isoflurane (CAS RN 26675-46-7) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Sevoflurane (CAS RN 28523-86-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:42f5ce0b83bbc5652d3d1a509c36213b53b185670071f8d0fc6103a532c2b98d52dc0f9627c8864e551e5ab28364ffd6c5a084941abcc6047fddf2669748448f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/6898/cdc_6898_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.63 MB ]