Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-86-420-L2051: General Foam Corporation; West Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blade, Leo M. ; Fidler, Anne T. ; Richardson, Fred D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from Local Union 15371 of the United Steelworkers of America, a study was undertaken of possible hazardous working conditions at General Foam Corporation, West Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The facility had two foam production departments. Each had a continuous foam pouring line that produces long blocks of foam that were cut into lengths ranging from a few feet to 200 feet. Both foam pouring lines produce a variety of polyurethane foams from formulations incorporating polyester or polyether polyol, a mixture of 2,4-toluene-diisocyanate (584849) and 2,6-toluene-diisocyanate (91087), various amine catalysts, and other chemicals including a blowing agent. No association was established between amine exposure levels and visual symptoms or deficits in visual acuity tests among the employees studied. One of ten samples for methylene-chloride (75092) exceeded the 8 hour time weighted average limit of 50 parts per million. The authors conclude that a potential health hazard did exist at the time of the survey from airborne exposure to both toluene-diisocyanate isomers. The authors recommend specific measures for improving working conditions at this site.
• Subjects:
  Amines Isocyanates Occupational Health Polymers Polyurethanes Safety
• Keywords:
  Hazard-Confirmed HETA-86-420-L2051 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Polymerization Polyurethane-foams
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA86420L2051
• 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:
  45 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194753
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-117218
• 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 86-420-L2051, 1990 Jun ; :1-46
• CAS Registry Number:
  2,4-Toluene diisocyanate (CAS RN 584-84-9) ; Toluene 2,6-diisocyanate (CAS RN 91-08-7) ; Methylene chloride (CAS RN 75-09-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:53445dee840c95c0afad9ac5d2c8bac8af856d888f49f29cf70f6a99f9a5f8a0b10f441acdc1219e9afd53287a1731c2065148ca983cd231aa7a53052feb7fa0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171748/cdc_171748_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.31 MB ]