Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-314-2179: Memphis Wood Preserving Company; Horn Lake, Mississippi

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boudreau, Yvonne A. ; Rinehart, Richard D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a report received from a physician indicating a high level of urinary arsenic (7440382) in an employee of the Memphis Wood Preserving Company (SIC-2491), Horn Lake, Mississippi, an investigation was begun into arsenic exposures at the facility. Chromated-copper-arsenate (CCA) was used by the company as a wood preservative and insect repellent. Interviews were conducted with all nine employees and urine samples were also taken. Interviews and urine samples were also obtained from 14 employees at Thomas Wood Preserving Company, Granada, Mississippi where similar procedures were carried out. The highest urinary arsenic levels were found in laborers with management and clerical staff having lower levels. Skin contact, ingestion and inhalation were seen as the most likely routes of exposure. No symptoms of arsenic overexposure were reported by any of the workers. The arsenic levels were less than 50 micrograms per gram of creatinine. However, in 11 of the workers, inorganic arsenic levels exceeded 10 micrograms/gram of creatinine, the upper limit of normal levels. The authors conclude that contact with the CCA wood preservative was associated with higher levels of urinary arsenic. The authors recommend that specific measures be carried out to decrease arsenic exposure among these workers.
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Skin Urine
• Keywords:
  Arsenic Biological-monitoring Biological Sampling Cancer Chromated Copper Arsenate Hazard-Confirmed HETA-91-314-2179 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 4 Skin-exposure Urinalysis Wood Preserving

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA913142179
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Mississippi ; 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:
  13 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00218682
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-165057
• 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 91-314-2179, 1992 Feb ; :1-13
• CAS Registry Number:
  Arsenic (CAS RN 7440-38-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2491 - Wood preserving - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:66c09f9c261d56275690f0e9cb45a97fbe7229a7ef552261bbab1b371bf7f81e7afa458535c822d460aa49c7d1e221f1586423f27f94d978f1aecd9d4c611a6d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171413/cdc_171413_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 216.25 KB ]