Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 95-0023-2531: American Azide Corporation, Cedar City, Utah

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esswein, Eric J. ; Hales, Thomas R. ; Trout, Douglas B.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a confidential request, an investigation was begun into possible exposures to sodium-azide (26628228) and hydrazoic- acid (7782798) at the American Azide Corporation (SIC-5169), Cedar City, Utah. Personal breathing zone samples indicated that concentrations of sodium-azide ranged up to 1.7mg/m3. Hydrazoic- acid levels ranged up to 1.1 parts per million (ppm). Sodium-azide levels exceeded the NIOSH recommended exposure level (REL) of 0.3mg/m3 in 28% of the samples and hydrazoic-acid exceeded the REL of 0.1ppm in 14% of the samples. On one occasion the air sample taken inside a supplied air helmet showed a hydrazoic-acid level of 0.13ppm which was greater than the 0.05ppm level recorded from samples on the worker's collar. The packaging and reblending operations appeared to be those in which workers were most at risk. Medical screening was performed on 11 workers, ten of whom reported headaches occurring in the production areas within 6 months of the evaluation. During that same time period, nine of the 11 reported low blood pressure episodes. Monitoring of a worker during azide packaging in the new blender and packaging building showed that the employee experienced an episode of hypotension, but the employee reported no symptoms. The authors conclude that exposures to sodium- azide and hydrazoic-acid exceeded the NIOSH REL, and health effects consistent with exposure were reported. The authors recommend specific measures to reduce exposures to these compounds.
• Subjects:
  Blood Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Headache Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Azides Biological Monitoring Blood Pressure Cardiovascular-system-disorders Chemical-industry-workers Chemical-manufacturing-industry Chemicals And Allied Products, Not Elsewhere Classified Hazard-Confirmed Headache HETA-95-0023-2531 Hydrazoic Acid Hypotension NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 8 Sodium Azide

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9500232531
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Utah ; 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:
  31 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Miller, Michael B. ; Solomon, Gina
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00230298
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB96-191762
• 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 95-0023-2531, 1995 Sep ; :1-33
• CAS Registry Number:
  Sodium azide (CAS RN 26628-22-8) ; Hydrazoic acid (CAS RN 7782-79-8)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  5169 - Chemicals & allied products, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bd8ff6fdefc9ba7550236c78e0ab4c9edc2e2efa4d72f830ff969f1f917ad74e6f7864b183ebf5802fcccd223cec7d0476ae1755e76e3fdd84d4bcb961d5c32e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171241/cdc_171241_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 235.31 KB ]