Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 95–0177–2617: Federal Occupational Health, Seattle, Washington

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esswein, Eric J. ; Moss, C. Eugene
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Federal Occupational Health Office in Seattle, Washington, an investigation was begun into possible hazardous exposures to microwave and radiofrequency radiation at eight US Army Corps of Engineers field stations (SIC-4899) in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. At each station, radiation measurements were taken in the equipment building, at the base of the tower, and during a 6-to-9-minute tower climb. Analysis of the data indicated that Corps of Engineers maintenance workers were not exposed to microwave radiation in the 1.7 to 1.8 gigahertz region. However, exposures above the guidelines may occur from radiofrequency sources located either on the towers or on adjacent towers not part of the Corps of Engineers projects and operated primarily in the 100-to-300-megahertz region. In and around the equipment buildings, exposures to microwave and radiofrequency radiation sources appeared to be below guidelines. The authors conclude that workers who climb towers were exposed to electric and magnetic fields which may be in excess of occupational exposure limits. The authors recommend that workers who climb towers be trained on potential exposure and techniques to reduce these exposures.
• Subjects:
  Electricity Electromagnetic Fields Magnetic Fields Maintenance Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Communications-industry Communication Services, Not Elsewhere Classified Electrical-fields Electromagnetic-radiation Electromagnetic Fields Hazard-Confirmed HETA-95-0177-2617 Magnetic-fields Maintenance-workers Microwave-radiation Microwave Safety MW NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 10 Radiation-exposure Radiofrequency RF

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9501772617
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Idaho ; Montana ; Washington ; OSHA Region 8 ; 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:
  25 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Blythe, Ellen E.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00236561
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB97-174304
• 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 95-0177-2617, 1996 Dec ; :1-22
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  4899 - Communication services, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6fb7229b54a23cd3b6799cfb98e57a529636ecdd990dc53e65271d934b8db57981e761d8c8a137afeb81c88129394320855dcce1debb03339220196a3cadc36d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171146/cdc_171146_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.68 MB ]