Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 91-0048-2506: New York Telephone Company, New York City, New York

Details

• Personal Author:
  Moss, C. Eugene
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Communication Workers of America, an investigation was begun into exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at the New York Telephone Company (SIC-3661), New York City, New York. Data were reviewed from an ongoing Bell Communications Research Company study that included more than 1,200 hours of collected monitoring data from 249 workers in nine states over 6 months. EMF levels were measured at an operating telephone crossbar switching facility located in New York City to help estimate the EMF levels at such a facility using older equipment. Magnetic field transient data results were obtained as well. Results of a previous evaluation at a central office facility were reviewed. EMF measurements were made on outside assistants and splicers to establish the range and magnitude of field exposures in employees working outside. The author concludes based on several periods of monitoring that EMF electric and magnetic field levels at various facilities did not exceed the relevant threshold limit values. Levels of extremely low frequency were quite low throughout various activities the operators performed. Crossbar switching equipment racks containing vacuum tubes were in widespread use for many years in the past and the possible role of ionizing radiation exposures from these tubes should be considered in any study of cancer among telephone central office facility workers involved with switching equipment.
• Subjects:
  Communications Media Electricity Magnetic Fields Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Communication-workers Electrical-fields EMF Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-91-0048-2506 Ionizing-radiation Magnetic-fields NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nonionizing-radiation Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 2 Radiation-exposure Radium Bromide Switching Equipment Telephone And Telegraph Apparatus Transients

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9100482506
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• 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:
  45 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Blythe, Ellen E. ; Booher, Donald E.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00228262
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB95-267852
• 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 91-0048-2506, 1995 May ; :1-40
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3661 - Telephone and telegraph apparatus - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7597c8eca5b0c4f9e6ef86d752e4a54f7ac6ae168f72ce7bb15653a34ecf6c71da594a8df95c4fc559f1bdd181e6353a3084a088407f180ccee32c2562da517b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171265/cdc_171265_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.49 MB ]