Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-0366-2453: Delaware County Resource Recovery Facility; Chester, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esswein, Eric J. ; Tepper, Allison L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a confidential request, an investigation was made of possible hazardous working conditions at the Delaware County Resource Recovery Facility (SIC-4053), Chester, Pennsylvania. The facility was a waste to energy incinerator employing 91 persons. The facility incinerated municipal solid waste and refuse derived fuel to produce electrical power. The request was made in response to concern regarding exposure to lead (7439921), incinerator ash dust, and heat stress. Health concerns included ear, nose and throat problems, eye irritation, and skin rash. During the initial visit, lead and other metals were found in settled dust throughout the facility. Lead, chromium (7440473), cadmium (7440439), and nickel (7440020) were present on lunch tables and on workers' hands. During a follow up visit, full shift personal air monitoring was conducted. The greatest concentrations of lead were found in bulk, wipe and air samples. Personal breathing samples taken showed that lead concentrations were well below the OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit of 50 micrograms/cubic meter. A potential for excessive heat exposure was found on the fifth and sixth floor of the facility. Safety hazards cited during this visit included improper practices regarding personal protective equipment and inadequate personal hygiene practices such as handwashing. The authors conclude that a possible occupational health hazard existed due to heat exposure in some areas of the facility. The presence of metal in dust on workers' hands and surfaces presented a risk of ingestion.
• Subjects:
  Dust Environmental Monitoring Heat Stress Disorders Hot Temperature Metals Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Silicon Dioxide Waste Management
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Cadmium Chromium Combustion-products Hazard-Confirmed Heat-stress HETA-91-0366-2453 Incinerator Ash Incinerator Operation, Garbage: Collecting, Destroying And Processing Lead Metal-dusts Metals Municipal Waste Incineration NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 3 Resource Recovery Facility Silica Waste-disposal-systems

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9103662453
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  32 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Buchta, Teresa ; Kinnes, Gregory M. ; Zimmer, Anthony T.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00222788
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB95-147450
• 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 91-0366-2453, 1994 Sep ; :1-34
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1) ; Chromium (CAS RN 7440-47-3) ; Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0)
• Editor(s):
  Marlow, Kate L.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  4953 - Refuse systems - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8890e39936903414a9796386451a606bea3b31e71ce738858b30f362f815ea37609c5b61d24d3db136e213f358fffe4398a7b593d5472cf5f0664d930d92589d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171327/cdc_171327_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 678.19 KB ]