Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-94-0213-2469: Chemetals, Inc.; New Johnsonville, Tennessee

Details

• Personal Author:
  Decker, John A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the International Union of Operating Engineers, an investigation was begun into possible hazardous working conditions at Chemetals, Inc. (SIC-2819), New Johnsonville, Tennessee. Some employees had experienced nose bleeds, eye irritation, chest congestion, headaches, and dizziness associated with excessive exposures to sulfuric-acid (7664939) mist and manganese (7439965) dust. The company produced high purity manganese-dioxide. Exposures to manganese exceeded the NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit (REL) of 1mg/m3 for workers in the briquette bagging operation where time weighted average (TWA) 10 hour exposures were 7.62mg/m3. Excessive exposures were also noted at the briquette batch mixing and manganese powder 4,000 pound bagging operation where TWAs were 1.27 and 1.90mg/m3, respectively. A later visit revealed manganese exposures exceeding the short term exposure limit (STEL) of 3mg/m3 as well for workers in the briquette batch mixing area with TWAs of 1.24 and STEL measurement of 3.2mg/m3. Approximately 18% of the exposed particulate was in the respirable range. Exposures to sulfuric-acid were consistently below the REL of 1mg/m3. Notable eye and throat irritation were observed in the cell rooms, suggesting the need to implement engineering controls. The author concludes that a potential health hazard from exposure to manganese dust was found. The author recommends that exposures to manganese dust and sulfuric-acid mist be reduced.
• Subjects:
  Acids Dust Lung Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Metals Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Safety
• Keywords:
  Acid-mists Aluminum Pyro Powder Chemical-manufacturing-industry Dust-exposure Eye, Nose, Throat Irritation Hazard-Confirmed HETA-94-0213-2469 Industrial Inorganic Chemicals, Not Elsewhere Classified Lung-irritants Manganese Dioxide Metal-dusts NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 4 Sulfuric Acid Mist

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9402132469
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Tennessee ; 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:
  19 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Hanley, Kevin W. ; Kiefer, Max
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00224638
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB95-189767
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: 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 94-0213-2469, 1994 Nov ; :1-19
• CAS Registry Number:
  Sulfuric acid (CAS RN 7664-93-9) ; Manganese (CAS RN 7439-96-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2819 - Industrial inorganic chemicals, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:75ab4c193134f52db5f9522a1d81c3621755d775ce24c6c25b5dd630f35b66ce6195efd05496b217b5d3ba35e75f04ba2e4b4bc68bdf8b669597e2b69fe7ce2b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171315/cdc_171315_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 248.96 KB ]