Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-90-341-2288: Norfolk Southern Railway Company

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cornwell, Ronnie J. ; Filios, Margaret S. ; Piacitelli, Chris A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Virginia Department of Health, a study was made of silica (14808607) exposures for workers on the Norfolk Southern Railroad (SIC-4011). A private physician had reported that one of his patients seemed to have severe pneumoconiosis, probably silicosis. This patient had been a railroad maintenance of way employee for the company for about 20 years as a track laborer. Environmental sampling was conducted during track maintenance activities by Timber and Surfacing Gangs at three sites. Of the 50 personal breathing zone and 21 area samples collected for respirable dust and crystalline silica, 27 of the personal and ten of the area samples equaled or exceeded the NIOSH recommended limit for respirable quartz of 0.05mg/m3. A medical survey of 32 track maintenance workers found no evidence of pneumoconiosis or adverse respiratory health effects. The overall prevalence of chronic cough was 31% and for chronic phlegm and shortness of breath, 25% each. The authors conclude that Timber and Surfacing Gang workers were being overexposed to crystalline silica. There was a potential for excessive crystalline silica exposure for track maintenance workers. The authors recommend measures to reduce exposure and for medical surveillance.
• Subjects:
  Dust Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Railroads Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Ballast Dust-exposure Granite Hazard-Confirmed HETA-90-341-2288 Line-haul Operating NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 3 OSHA Region 4 Pneumocohiosis Railroad Railroad-industry Respiratory-system-disorders Silica Silica-dusts Silicosis

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA903412288
• 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:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  42 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Kinsley, Kathleen B.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00213717
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB93-214146
• 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 90-341-2288, 1993 Feb ; :1-40
• CAS Registry Number:
  Silica, Crystalline (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  4011 - Railroads, line-haul operating - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:077a8aede1cae20efb2580effbb202679caf38774847e04d994919242e08a1d4a6a4d9562c0b168c91e92b61407f867f7dc66718c100f7c115ccf5321ccdf51b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171516/cdc_171516_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.14 MB ]