Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-90-357-2201: Polyclinic Medical Center; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blade, Leo M. ; Deitchman, Scott D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from Central Penn Anesthesiology, Ltd. (SIC- 8011) personnel working at the Polyclinic Medical Center (SIC-8062), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, an evaluation was undertaken of complaints of severe headaches and rashes related to working in the Pain Clinic. The Pain Clinic at the Polyclinic Medical Center in Harrisburg had opened in December of 1989. The three rooms at the facility were occupied intermittently by anesthesiologists, nurses, secretaries, and patients. Workers reported severe headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, and urticarial rash. The heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system serving the Pain Clinic revealed no visual evidence of microbiological growth, maintenance deficiencies, or other apparent problems. Medical testing results did not indicate abnormalities which suggested an acute exposure to environmental toxicants that could cause these symptoms. The authors conclude that no chemical contaminants were found in concentrations which could account for the reported symptoms, and no specific environmental causes for the symptoms were identified. The authors recommend ventilation system improvements to improve the general quality of the indoor air.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Anesthesia Environmental Health Headache Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Anesthetics General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Hazard-Unconfirmed Headache Health-care-personnel HETA-90-357-2201 Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Neurologic Symptoms NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Offices And Clinics Of Doctors Of Medicine OSHA Region 3 Rash Urticaria Ventilation 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/NIOSHHETA903572201
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  22 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00208280
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-219815
• 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 90-357-2201, 1992 Apr ; :1-29
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC) ; 8011 - Offices & clinics of medical doctors - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8f9d75aaa8e1fc2c4e3479628477380ce2b4e2bfacb161497e99d922744628b3503766f0e68dd87656d30a601201dcb83fae05612c2d375c1d9fed139e5f7f2a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171581/cdc_171581_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 255.97 KB ]