Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-93-0974-2353: Department of Health Services; Frankfort, Kentucky

Details

• Personal Author:
  Echt, Alan S. ; Sim, Malcolm R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Health Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, an investigation was begun into an outbreak of skin disorders among laboratory workers at the Health Services Building (SIC-8071), Frankfort, Kentucky. Employees were concerned about their symptoms which they felt resulted from contact with carbonless copy paper forms which accompany the biological specimens analyzed in the laboratories. The laboratory services were located in the basement of the Health Services Building. Itchy skin and rashes on exposed skin and areas where clothes rub were reported in early May of 1993. Fibrous glass insulation had been installed recently in the three mechanical rooms which housed the air handling units for the basement. The nature of the symptoms was consistent with the irritant dermatitis caused by exposure to the insulation, and the onset of symptoms also coordinated well with the timing of this operation. The air handling units had dirty cooling coils and condensate pans, organic matter in the ducts, microbial growth, a blocked air return, and air bypassing a filter. The authors conclude that the most likely cause of the skin symptoms was irritant dermatitis due to contact with glass fibers
  
  poorly maintained air handling units may have contributed to the severity of this outbreak. The authors recommend that the maintenance of the air handling units in the mechanical rooms be improved.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dermatitis Environmental Monitoring Laboratories Occupational Health Safety Skin Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Airborne-fibers Contact Dermatitis Fibrous Glass Hazard-Confirmed HETA-93-0974-2353 Insulation-materials Laboratory-workers Medical Laboratories NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 4 Skin-exposure Skin-irritants Ventilation-systems

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9309742353
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; 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:
  14 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00217279
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB94-140183
• 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 93-0974-2353, 1993 Oct ; :1-15
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8071 - Medical laboratories - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8c58ddc6d500c91b29dff9c0511a5e942d4c9fc24d4fa1656527b6d012445fb9191c1762d0373233ff9df55251d88e6c702d60e7e2a167b19d348331f000c33d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171443/cdc_171443_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 192.13 KB ]