Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-252-293-2178: Chempower, Incorporated, Combustion Engineering, Incorporated, Albright Power Station; Albright, West Virginia

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-252, 293-2178: Chempower, Incorporated, Combustion Engineering, Incorporated, Albright Power Station, Albright, West Virginia
• Personal Author:
  Almaguer, Daniel ; Burt, Susan E. ; Stephenson, Richard L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  An evaluation was conducted in response to two requests from the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), Local 667 concerning an outbreak of acute illness among workers involved in a renovation and asbestos removal project on a boiler at the Albright Power Station (SIC-1542), Albright, West Virginia, and worker exposure to heavy metals during another phase of the boiler renovation. In the outbreak of illness, symptoms were reported which were similar to metal fume fever. Of the 36 workers interviewed, 15 met the case definition of possible work-related illness defined by the presence of at least three of these symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, chills, headache, nausea, and bloody sputum. Elevated blood mercury (7439976) levels were found in 11 of 19 workers seeking medical care. Workers who were burning through the heavy metal boiler casting with oxyacetylene torches appeared more likely to become ill and have elevated blood mercury levels. The paint on the boiler may have contained mercury. The type of respirators used were not sufficient to protect against sulfur-dioxide (7446095) or mercury. The authors conclude that, based on epidemiologic evidence, the reported illnesses may have been work related. During oxyacetylene cutting of a boiler casing, airborne arsenic (7440382), iron (7439896), and lead (7439921) exceeded the evaluation criteria. The authors recommend that all potential hazards should be evaluated prior to beginning abatement and renovation activities.
• Subjects:
  Asbestos Blood Hematologic Tests Inorganic Chemicals Lead Lead Poisoning Mercury Metals, Heavy Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Poisoning Safety Sulfur Dioxide Welding

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• Keywords:
  Asbestos-removal Blood-analysis Boilermakers Electrical Power Plant Electric Services General Contractors Hazard-Confirmed Heavy-metals Heavy Metals HETA-89-252-293-2178 Lead Lead-poisoning Mercury Mercury-poisoning NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nonclassifiable Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 3 Oxyacetylene Cutting Sulfur Dioxide Welding-industry

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA892522932178
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; 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:
  40 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Fleeger, Alan K. ; Hills, Bruce ; Sussell, Aaron L.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00218689
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-164142
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 89-252-293-2178, 1992 Feb ; :1-37
• CAS Registry Number:
  Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6) ; Sulfur dioxide (CAS RN 7446-09-5) ; Arsenic (CAS RN 7440-38-2) ; Iron (CAS RN 7439-89-6) ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Editor(s):
  Morris, Linda
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  1542 - Nonresidential construction, not elsewhere classified - (SIC) ; 4911 - Electric services - (SIC) ; 9999 - Nonclassifiable establishments - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a4a6963377ad9dcf653f41ccfe05c26890b8aca9e994b4035e8f87f541a2b480dd9ea29ab0e115c6461578abdb3a96bed6e45d835a58246583f73467d5622e66
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171406/cdc_171406_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.38 MB ]