Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-351-2252: Social Security Administration, District Office; Colorado Springs, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esswein, Eric J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a confidential request, an investigation was begun into poor indoor environmental quality at the Social Security Administration (SIC-9441) District Office located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Employees at that site had expressed concern over mucous membrane irritation, headaches, and poor air circulation. The District Office was located in a single-story office complex and employed 35 workers. Other businesses in the complex included a dry cleaner. Area air sampling was performed for formaldehyde (50000) and volatile organic compounds. Only one formaldehyde sample was above the minimum detectable concentration. Perchloroethylene (127184) was detected in indoor air at 0.18mg/m3 and in outdoor air at 0.30mg/m3. Temperature measurements were within the limits in most instances. Relative humidity was on the lower end of the comfort zone. Measurements of carbon-dioxide (124389) taken daily approached 1,000 parts per million (ppm), suggesting that an inadequate amount of dilution ventilation was occurring. The author concludes that no health hazard was identified. Entrainment of outside air contaminated with perchloroethylene from the dry-cleaning establishment and low relative humidity may have been factors in employee complaints. The author recommends that efforts be made to improve the indoor air quality at this site by reducing the possibility of entrainment of air contaminated with perchloroethylene and improving ventilation.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Health Formaldehyde Hydrocarbons Occupational Health Safety Tetrachloroethylene Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Chlorinated-hydrocarbons Dry-cleaning-solvents Dry Cleaning Government Offices Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-91-351-2252 IAQ IEQ Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Indoor Air Quality Indoor Environmental Quality NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers OSHA Region 8 Perchloroethylene Ventilation-systems

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA913512252
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  20 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Kellersberger, Katherine A. ; Masoian, Thomas J.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00218678
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB93-213098
• 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 91-351-2252, 1992 Sep ; :1-24
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Perchloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4) ; Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9441 - Administration of social & manpower programs - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e2bccb14b3026fb13a2a5000238aa4dc3cc1a874bca243fbb9e71f06899159587e62f3363babb60245333c5c9e877c1c877a13d96c5e7b711b922ed933319317
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171417/cdc_171417_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 202.86 KB ]