Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-257-2184: Ohio Civil Rights Commission, 200 Goodall Complex; Cincinnati, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Crandall, Michael S. ; Echt, Alan S. ; Martinez, Kenneth F. ; Wilcox, Thomas G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to an employer request, an investigation was undertaken of poor indoor air quality at the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (SIC- 9441), Cincinnati, Ohio. The Commission occupied three floors of an office building which was newly renovated in 1985. Complaints began following water leaks from condensate pans in the air handling units on third floor east and third floor west beginning in August of 1990. Carbon-dioxide (124389) concentrations, temperature and relative humidity were measured during the study at six different locations inside the building. Carbon-dioxide levels rose from a mean of 366 parts per million (ppm) in the morning to a mean of 638ppm in the afternoon. Temperatures ranged from 69.9 to 75.3 degrees-F. Relative humidity ranged from 51.5 to 75.5%. Over half the employees had experienced symptoms such as nasal congestion, headaches, or eye irritation while in the building. The filters for the outside air supply fit poorly and allowed dust from the outside to go around the filters, permitting entrance of organic material into the air handling system. Significant moisture blowby of the cooling coils was also noted. According to the authors, there was no clear evidence that the employees' respiratory symptoms were caused by contaminants in the building
  
  however, the presence of thermophilic actinomycetes within this building raises concern. The authors recommend specific measures to help reduce complaints related to the indoor climate of the building.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Health Fungi Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Administration Of Social, Manpower, And Income Maintenance Programs Bioaerosols Closed-building-syndrome Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-91-257-2184 Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Indoor Air Quality NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers OSHA Region 5 Thermophilic Actinomycetes

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA912572184
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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
• Contributor:
  Abrams, Lori ; Miller, Richard D.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00206943
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-193903
• 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 91-257-2184, 1992 Mar ; :1-26
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9441 - Administration of social & manpower programs - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8d271eff319be9230436550979fbd9ded866bc06ea46a6d2512508dd6826994b37f1cb72d78b514abd283f7d1abccfe6633a55a99e7e7ad69f45b38920537fe7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171593/cdc_171593_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 582.23 KB ]