Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 99-0294-2775: Exempla St. Joseph’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esswein, Eric J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A health hazard evaluation (HHE) was requested by management at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Exempla St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The request concerned possible exposures to natural rubber latex (NRL) proteins. Employees reported rhinitis, sneezing, rash, watery eyes, and aggravation of allergic symptoms. A reservoir of dust was found within the NICU
  
  exhaust from the central vacuum cleaning system was leaking into the ceiling plenum of an area adjacent to the NICU. The system exhausted vacuumed carpet dust into the ceiling plenum, rather than to the outside, as designed. The use of pressure measurements and carbon dioxide tracer gas demonstrated that a potential pathway existed for the movement of airborne dusts from the affected plenum to the adjacent plenum over the NICU. Two air samples, six surface samples, and two bulk dust samples were collected. Concentrations of NRL ranged from below the limit of detection [<1 allergy units (AU) per milliliter of extracted sample] to 4.2 AUs. Eight of the ten samples were in a range considered to be trace concentrations. The two NRL air samples were reported at less than the limit of detection and 1.8 AU. No mechanical or maintenance deficiencies and no visible microbiological contamination were identified in the air handling unit serving the NICU. A water leak in the NICU was identified and remediated by hospital personnel.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Dust Hospitals Occupational Health Rubber Safety
• Keywords:
  Carpets General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Hazard-Confirmed Hospital, Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, NICU Latex-gloves Natural Rubber Latex NRL OSHA Region 8 Vacuum-cleaners Vacuum Cleaners
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9902942775
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Hamilton, Robert G. ; Woody, Joyce
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20000594
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2000-107835
• Citation:
  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, HETA 99-0294-2775, 2000 Jan ; :1-6
• Editor(s):
  Arthur, Penny
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e107fdd6d7f929797d09068b00d6a152ad14f3137db398b5624ff52e02cc97e9f13db7dd949c702f129751fffa60e8231dc26089d76d820caafc49aef6491cb5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170978/cdc_170978_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 203.62 KB ]