Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-90-092-L2083: Bethlehem Steel; Chesterton, Indiana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kawamoto, Melody M. ; Mouradian, Robert F.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the United Steel Workers of America Local 6787, an investigation was undertaken of possible hazardous working conditions at the 160-inch plate mill at Bethlehem Steel, Chesterton, Indiana. A significant number of employees were experiencing symptoms of eye and respiratory irritation which could be linked to workplace exposures. There was no evidence of severe occupational illness. Low to moderate exposure to air contaminants were measured, including metals, sulfur-dioxide (7446095), nitrogen- dioxide (10102440), and carbon-monoxide (630080). No single contaminant was identified as the cause of eye and respiratory irritation. The authors conclude that the symptoms were caused by a combination of contaminants released by the cutting operations and by the heat treatment and tempering furnaces. The authors recommend that exposure to these irritants be controlled to minimize employee discomfort. The ventilation system should be improved, in part through the use of local exhaust or other engineering controls.
• Subjects:
  Eye Foreign Bodies Lung Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Eye-irritants Hazards-Confirmed HETA-90-092-L2083 Lung-irritants NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 5 Respiratory-system-disorders Work-environment Workplace-studies

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA90092L2083
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; 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:
  24 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00196021
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-152306
• 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 90-092-L2083, 1990 Nov ; :1-25
• CAS Registry Number:
  Sulfur dioxide (CAS RN 7446-09-5) ; Nitrogen dioxide (CAS RN 10102-44-0) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dd542a1c5a03a71f86ab65cc970b510735289c82032e01b8141405763ad4c5730d798b442c3fc1677d0c67d642c80af45c44c581fd9996ca23cab8b621bae6bb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171709/cdc_171709_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 897.52 KB ]