Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-348-2295: United States Forest Service; Red River, New Mexico

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kullman, Greg J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the United States Forest Service, an investigation was begun of possible hazards to workers at the Red River Ski Area (SIC-7999) in New Mexico resulting from the use of Snomax, an ice nucleation product used in snowmaking operations. The product was a freeze-dried preparation of an endotoxin producing Gram negative bacteria, Pseudomonas-syringae. Snowmaking was done at the Red River Ski Area only during the night, and never when skiers were present. Samples were collected over 3 days to assess occupational exposures to airborne dusts, viable Gram-negative bacteria, and endotoxins. Viable P-syringae were not identified in any air, snow, or water samples. Endotoxins were detected in snow samples, samples of snowmaking water, and in airborne dust samples. Personal exposures to endotoxins among workers directly involved in snowmaking ranged from 1 endotoxin unit (EU) per cubic meter (m3) to 92EU/m3. There were no occupational standards for endotoxin exposure. The author concludes that workers were exposed to endotoxins during snowmaking. The mean exposures in the high exposure category were below estimated human threshold levels. No significant respiratory problems were reported by the workers filling out a questionnaire.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Bacteria Biological Products Dust Endotoxins Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Airborne-particles Bacterial-dusts Biological-material Gram- Negative Bacteria Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-89-348-2295 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 6 Respiratory Symptoms Snowmaking

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA893482295
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Mexico ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  32 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Daniels, Bill ; Jones, Bill
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00219676
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-183746
• Citation:
  Morgantown, West Virginia: 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 89-348-2295, 1993 Mar ; :1-32
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3585 - Refrigeration and heating equipment - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:986dc43140de5d4c812cfde7f6df3599669d9c73cf3d15344bf4d17db50e32502e56f90f23b819ebbf8e5f9d35c5a87c56a9a9df8b4b7a23cecdf04a3098836b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171378/cdc_171378_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 385.17 KB ]