Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-91-073-2165: Carbonnaire Company; Palmerton, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Decker, John A. ; Galson, Steven K.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from a Carbonnaire Company Representative, an investigation was undertaken of possible exposure to metal dusts at Carbonnaire Company (SIC-2873, SIC-2813), Palmerton, Pennsylvania. The metal dust was thought to be blowing in from an adjacent zinc recycling company. Carbonnaire manufactured synthetic anhydrous-ammonia (7664417) by the Haber-Bosch process. About 29 employees worked three shifts. Air samples, wipe samples and soil samples were collected for analysis of metal content. Blood samples were obtained from 13 workers. Lead (7439921) concentrations in wipe samples ranged from 108 to 432 micrograms/square foot. Surface soil and ventilation filter dust contained up to 4.5% lead. Blood lead concentrations ranged from 4 to 13 micrograms/deciliter. Personal breathing samples detected ammonia concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 122.6 parts per million (ppm). The highest personal exposure was collected over 5 minutes in the east compressor area. The author concludes that a health hazard existed due to ammonia exposure from leaking equipment. A potential health hazard may exist from exposure to lead at this location. The author recommends specific measures to reduce exposures and improve working conditions at this facility.
• Subjects:
  Ammonia Dust Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Metals, Heavy Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Ammonia Ammonia Manufacture Carbon Dioxide Chemical-industry-workers Environmental-pollution Hazard-Confirmed Heavy-metals HETA-91-073-2165 Industrial-emissions Industrial Gas Manufacture, Carbon Dioxide Lead NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 3 Zinc

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA910732165
• 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:
  28 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Abrams, Lori ; Lewis, David
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00205036
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-164284
• 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 91-073-2165, 1991 Dec ; :1-32
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ammonia (CAS RN 7664-41-7 ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2873 - Nitrogenous fertilizers - (SIC) ; 2813 - Industrial gases - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:628184c67fc39c266ca006414b442d0d18499e8103c2ae2924520d0708705c08f60d81675450382ab90e7c6e87416a09f74f4f8cf7a34c0edad0e2bf4faf2926
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171611/cdc_171611_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 861.56 KB ]