Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-374-2197: Exxon Baytown Refinery; Baytown, Texas

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kawamoto, Melody M. ; Kinnes, Gregory M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from The Gulf Coast Industrial Workers Union (GCIWU), an investigation was begun of possible hazardous working conditions at the Exxon Baytown Refinery (SIC-2911), Baytown, Texas. Some process technicians had reported that they experienced heart attack type symptoms while or after they were involved in unloading the diesel fuel cetane improver, 2-ethylhexyl- nitrate (27247967), from tanker trucks. Approximately every 5 days the 2-ethylhexyl-nitrate was delivered to the facility in a 6000-gallon tanker truck and pumped into a 15,000-gallon storage tank. Nine personal breathing zone and general area air samples were collected during the cetane improver unloading operation. Interviews were conducted with workers. Only three of the nine samples had detectable levels of 2-ethylhexyl-nitrate, ranging from data was questionable due to difficulties in analysis. Of the 11 interviewed employees, six reported symptoms related to cetane improver exposure. Often the symptoms were temporally related to direct skin exposure. Some of the symptoms were headache, lightheadedness or dizziness, chest discomfort or palpitations, and nausea. Personal protective equipment procedures had been implemented, decreasing the occurrence of symptomatic episodes. The authors conclude that symptoms were consistent with excessive exposure to nitrated esters. The authors recommend that efforts continue to limit the exposure to this chemical.
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Fuel Oils Nitrates Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  2-ethylhexyl Nitrate Air-quality-monitoring Cetane Improver Fuels Hazard-Confirmed Heart Attack Symptoms HETA-89-374-2197 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitrated Esters Octyl Nitrate OSHA Region 6 Petroleum Refining Refinery

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA893742197
• 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:
  11 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Pendergrass, Stephanie M.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00208278
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-219807
• 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 89-374-2197, 1992 Mar ; :1-13
• CAS Registry Number:
  2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (CAS RN 27247-96-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2911 - Petroleum refining - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce219188dd397d9d6305c211217ea34ee8dfb65e05ea8eb5d4a623f5bf87669a6e31158a714c4c1afcd6e13db1a6731119e65ebd4555316d0eb411d687f1905a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171583/cdc_171583_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 155.40 KB ]