Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-348-2011: Electric Boat; Groton, Connecticut

Details

• Personal Author:
  Doyle, Thomas E. ; Tubbs, Randy L. ; Wilcox, Thomas G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Metal Trades Council of New London County, AFL-CIO, an investigation was made of possible hazardous conditions at Electric Boat shipyard (SIC-3731), Groton, Connecticut. Vibration measurements were conducted to determine worker exposure to vibration while using a needle gun, a sand tamper, a lead caulker, and grinders and burring tools in their work at the shipyard. Most of the 11 tools measured should, according to the results of the tests, be limited to 4 hours use at a time. The lead caulker, sand tamper, and three of the four types of burring tools had vibration levels in excess of the ACGIH threshold limit value of 12 meters per second squared. Over 300 shipyard employees had been seen by a local occupational medical clinic due to tingling and numbness in their hands and/or finger blanching. Since only a small number of tools were tested, the vibration measurements did not necessarily apply to all the tools at the shipyard. However, the large number of workers seen at the clinic for symptoms compatible with the hand/arm vibration syndrome, the need for time restrictions for most tools, and the lack of administrative procedures for tool use restrictions indicated that there was a problem at this facility. The authors conclude that a health hazard existed at the shipyard. Recommendations are offered for reducing vibration exposure.
• Subjects:
  Dust Occupational Health Safety Ships Vibration
• Keywords:
  Hand-tools Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome Hand Transmitted Vibration HAVS Hazard-Confirmed HETA-87-348-2011 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 1 Shipbuilding-industry Shipyard Shipyard-workers Vibrating Tools Vibration-exposure Vibration White Finger VWF

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA873482011
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:
  58 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Moss, Eugene
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194433
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-108142
• 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 87-348-2011, 1990 Feb ; :1-62
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3731 - Ship building and repairing - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b79d99189034c3b526762626ed371a6eca0172293bf9d0069e5463caf2198352a6744c50e568f2d02c3c7971250d6323bb9980c9616517ff1a6ea76b72e4b04b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171762/cdc_171762_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 930.22 KB ]