Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 82-247-1280: Blue Cross of Northern California, Oakland, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Coye, Molly J. ; Okawa, Melvin T.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 29, an evaluation was conducted of the possible relationship between complaints of headaches, respiratory illnesses and general discomfort, and general air quality at Blue Cross of Northern California, Oakland, California. Most workers at Blue Cross were engaged in processing insurance claims and were seated at open workstations. A walk-through survey was conducted, along with worker interviews, review of the building ventilation systems specifications, and evaluation of existing environmental data much of which had been obtained in a previous analysis by a private consulting firm. Deficiencies in ventilation were noted primarily due to the use of an energy saving program that shut off the main system for up to 9 minutes each hour. Workers reported symptoms of upper respiratory irritation and headache, crowded workstations, stress, and eye strain, and musculoskeletal problems associated with the use of video display terminals. The authors conclude that the problems experienced by workers in this building were consistent with inadequate ventilation, overcrowding, and poorly designed video terminal workstations. The authors recommend that specific measures be taken to improve the work environment at this facility.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Health Headache Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Stress, Psychological Ventilation Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  ASHRAE Hazard-Confirmed Headache HETA-82-247-1280 Hospital And Medical Service Plans Illumination Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Indoor Air Pollution Job-stress MSD Musculoskeletal System Disorders NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers Office Buildings OSHA Region 9 Respiratory-system-disorders Respiratory Irritation Ventilation Ventilation-systems Video-display-terminals Video Display Terminals Work-environment

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA822471280
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; 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:
  10 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00226512
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-210400
• 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, HETA 82-247-1280, 1983 Mar ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  6324 - Hospital and medical service plans - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3e18238833fd741aec54ec8cc4d4c5fb2a0d50ca3e5be96549453127180c9de7a08ad066bbccc0445fe3d174ee864c5e21efc633a5439c1e7991bc9920ee08fd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171284/cdc_171284_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.35 MB ]