Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-076-2164: Silver Deer; Boulder, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lee, Stephen A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from a representative of Silver Deer, Ltd. (SIC-3231), Boulder, Colorado a study was undertaken of lead (7439921) exposure at the facility. The Silver Deer company employed 65 persons in cutting, grinding and polishing crystal into various art objects. The crystal contained about 32% lead. A NIOSH study conducted in 1984 at this site found a mean air lead exposure of 50 micrograms/cubic meter (microg/m3) and a mean blood lead level of 29 micrograms/deciliter (microg/dl) among seven grinding room workers. Local exhaust ventilation was installed after the previous NIOSH study. This study (in 1991) found lead levels in the air from 6.6 to 35.0microg/m3 with a mean of 18microg/m3. The highest exposure was caused when lead crystal was ground on a section of a grinder that had inadequate exhaust ventilation. The mean blood lead level in grinding room workers was 12 microg/dl. These results show a statistically significant decrease in blood lead levels after the installation of local exhaust ventilation. The author concludes that a health hazard was not found at the time of the survey. The author recommends some further improvements in engineering controls and work practices.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Blood Dust Lead Metals, Heavy Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Abrasive-grinding Airborne-dusts Art Glass, Made From Purchased Glass Blood Lead Dust-inhalation Followback Hazard-Unconfirmed Heavy-metals HETA-91-076-2164 Inorganic Lead Lead-dust Leaded Crystal NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 8 Respiratory-system-disorders

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA910762164
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  14 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00205503
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-176916
• 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 91-076-2164, 1991 Dec ; :1-19
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Editor(s):
  DiGiacomo, Marile F.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3231 - Products of purchased glass - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:89bb9218f427f4bbc3febde504faf4a96c7598132273abee655ac218771f9f04d34600e0427e7dc6166502b269e847287f39541dfccce13e542b03e4caf9b127
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171606/cdc_171606_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 162.41 KB ]