Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 96-0060-2632: Cincinnati Sportsmedicine and Orthopaedic Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Booher, Donald E. ; Burroughs, G. Edward ; Echt, Alan S. ; Lenhart, Steven W.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from a physician with the Cincinnati Sportsmedicine and Orthopedic Center (SIC-8011), Cincinnati, Ohio, an investigation was begun into possible hazardous working conditions at that facility. Concern was expressed about carbon- dioxide (124389) exposures during the wearing of surgical isolation suits. Operating room personnel had reported headaches, irritability, discomfort and sweating while using the suits. The suits were introduced in orthopedic surgery to prevent the infection of patients by operating room personnel. Four types of surgical helmets were tested along with two powered air purifying respirators. Mean carbon-dioxide concentrations during 15-minute tests with light exercise ranged from 5,500 parts per million (ppm) to 11,700ppm. The results of this study indicated that if these surgical helmets and powered air purifying respirators (PAPR) were used during operations lasting more than 8 hours, the users would be exposed to carbon-dioxide levels in excess of the 8-hour time weighted average exposure limit of 5,000ppm. At the highest mean carbon-dioxide level measured, 11,700ppm, the user would be overexposed after 3.5 hours. The authors conclude that wearing a surgical helmet or PAPR during orthopedic surgery could result in a user being overexposed to carbon-dioxide, depending on the duration of the surgery. The authors recommend measures to reduced symptoms during surgery.
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Environmental Monitoring Health Personnel Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Carbon Dioxide CO2 Hazard-Confirmed Health-care-personnel HETA-96-0060-2632 Infection-control NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nurses Offices And Clinics Of Doctors Of Medicine Orthopedic Surgery OSHA Region 5 PAPR Personal-protective-equipment Powered Air-purifying Respirator Protective-clothing Respiratory-protective-equipment Surgeons Surgical Helmets Surgical Isolation Suits

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9600602632
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  14 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Marlow, Kate L.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00237091
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB97-187413
• 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 96-0060-2632, 1997 Mar ; :1-12
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8011 - Offices & clinics of medical doctors - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8b3ffd6aee6d835cc8a413b7b7f6b0f4f821af525888db1267003a7f91610fc86e9a6d8bd3fe01f1d977edcbccb72b433e375e9d44c6a614934194bdf0030165
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171122/cdc_171122_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 377.03 KB ]