Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-92-402-2283: Aluminum Company of America; Point Comfort, Texas

Details

• Personal Author:
  Trout, Douglas B. ; Zimmer, Anthony T.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, technical assistance was offered in the investigation of worker exposure to mercury (7439976) at the Aluminum Company of America alumina facility (SIC-2819) in Point Comfort, Texas. The facility produced alumina from bauxite ore. Area air samples contained mercury concentrations of up to 0.004mg/m3. The NIOSH recommended exposure limit to mercury vapor was 0.050mg/m3. A group of 30 workers was identified as having been most likely to be occupationally exposed to mercury. These workers participated in biological monitoring to determine whether hazardous exposure had occurred. Urine samples were analyzed for levels of inorganic mercury, total mercury, and creatinine. None of the workers had a detectable level of inorganic mercury in their urine. Detectable total mercury was found in the urine of five workers, all below 10 micrograms/liter. All measurements were below 13 micrograms/gram creatinine. These levels were below the proposed regulatory guideline of 35 micrograms/gram creatinine. The authors conclude that the production workers tested had not had mercury exposure above background levels within the previous 2 to 4 months. The authors recommend that proper industrial hygiene practices be followed to prevent potential overexposure to mercury.
• Subjects:
  Aluminum Compounds Dust Metals, Heavy Metal Workers Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Urine
• Keywords:
  Alumina Production Aluminum-industry Biological Monitoring Hazard-Unconfirmed Heavy-metals HETA-92-402-2283 Industrial Inorganic Chemicals, Not Elsewhere Classified Mercury NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 6 Urinalysis Urine Mercury Levels

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA924022283
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Texas ; OSHA Region 6
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00213708
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB93-214054
• 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 92-402-2283, 1993 Feb ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2819 - Industrial inorganic chemicals, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:639504dedd16695a6cc2dd45ae557f50d05ef4ee985b9fd7e29e0ddab07361a7c79aa9a2dc08bf8a4bd458ef0c367beb57129d1047167780a887c205a6610a29
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171525/cdc_171525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 240.89 KB ]