Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HE 80-245 & 246 & 247-1210: Colorado River Gin, Poston, Arizona, Plantation Gin, Poston, Arizona Parker Valley Gin, Parker, Arizona

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J. ; Pryor, Paul D. ; Thoburn, Theodore W. ; Weis, William ; Zey, John N.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Chairman of the Tribal Council, an evaluation was made of three cotton gins (SIC-0131) on the Colorado River Indian Reservation: the Colorado River Gin and Plantation Gin, Poston, Arizona, and Parker Valley Gin, Parker, Arizona. The potential short term and long-term health effects for the approximately 10 to 18 workers at each gin site were of concern. Exposure to cotton dust, pesticide residue laden materials, nuisance dust, and noise were the primary concerns. Most of the airborne levels of cotton dust samples taken at the three gins exceeded the NIOSH recommended criteria of 200 micrograms/cubic meter. Medical evaluation showed both acute and chronic symptoms in a portion of the workers who were evaluated for exposure to cotton dust and or nuisance dust, as well as from exposure to organophosphate pesticides. Effects included eye, skin and respiratory irritation among 54% of the workers, decreases in lung function over the workday in two workers, symptoms of chronic bronchitis in six workers, and reduced pulmonary function in two workers. Statistically significant decreases were also noted in the red cell cholinesterase levels over the season, to a clinically significant degree. Significantly high noise exposures were measured for all of the jobs evaluated
  
  only outside gin operators had exposures below 85 decibels. The authors conclude that health hazards existed at the three sites from exposures to cotton dust, pesticide residue laden materials, and noise. The authors recommend measures to improve worker health.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Ear Gossypium Insecticides Noise Occupational Health Organophosphates Particulate Matter Safety Sense Organs

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-workers Airborne-dusts Cotton-dust Cotton-harvesting Dust-exposure Hazard-Confirmed HHE-80-245-1210 HHE-80-246-1210 HHE-80-247-1210 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation Noise-exposure Organo-phosphorus-pesticides OSHA Region 9 Plant-dusts

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Arizona ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:
  44 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Morrison, Donald ; Page, Gloria
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00236839
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-172949
• 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, HHE 80-245-246-247-1210, 1982 Oct ; :1-42
• Editor(s):
  Schulenberg, Marilyn K.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  0131 - Cotton - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7ddda05511e7169239561a8d6e90d61a6cde6c0b4c1874a8636e5a57827dc414a1809df392ae57698668544d19a59c51838dbd252d72bf50a6fbca11e304a2d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171139/cdc_171139_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.12 MB ]