Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 82-207-1278: Garden City Engraving, Augusta, Georgia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Salisbury, Stanley A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a management request, an evaluation was conducted of exposures to printing ink vapors at the Garden City Engraving Company (SIC-2751), Augusta, Georgia. The evaluation was requested after all ten employees complained of irritative and respiratory symptoms following a move of the screen printing operations into the main office building. The industrial hygiene survey included employee interviews, assessment of building ventilation, and measurement of airborne levels of toluene (108883), 2-ethoxyethyl- acetate (111159) (2EA), 2-butoxyethanol-acetate (112072) (2BA), diacetone-alcohol (123422) (DA), isophorone (75581), and a solvent consisting of a mixture of aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons. The primary organic vapors detected in bulk air samples were 2EA, DA, toluene, isophorone, 2BA, and a mixture of alkyl substituted benzenes. Results of personal and area air samples did not indicate exposures in excess of OSHA permissible limits ; however, 2EA levels were in excess of the most recent threshold limit value (5 parts per million) recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Improper local exhaust ventilation was noted in the printing department. Five of the eight employees interviewed reported work related symptoms. The author concludes that airborne concentrations of ink vapors were below levels expected to cause adverse health effects. The author recommends that efforts be made to improve ventilation and reduce worker exposures.
• Subjects:
  • Ink
  • Occupational Exposure
  • Occupational Health
  • Printing
  • Safety
  • Solvents
  • Toluene
  • Ventilation
• Keywords:
  • NIOSH-Author
  • NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation
  • NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report
  • HETA-82-207-1278
  • OSHA Region 4
  • Hazard-Unconfirmed
  • Organic-solvents
  • Occupational-exposure
  • Printing-industry
  • Printing-inks
  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA822071278
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  23 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00226511
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-210533
• 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 82-207-1278, 1983 Mar ; :1-14
• CAS Registry Number:
  • 2-Butoxyethyl acetate (CAS RN 112-07-2)
  • Cellosolve acetate (CAS RN 111-15-9)
  • Diacetone alcohol (CAS RN 123-42-2)
  • Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2751 - Commercial Printing, Letterpress - (SIC)
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171285/cdc_171285_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.72 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b17035274b0349ccce350a0e971a54802d1d36e90fc7b38a5408b444418cd74d9dd54bbec9645360f60046ac2ba7beeaf59bf9e9d014c4803f1ff54199f013b2