Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-213-1992: Blue Range Engineering Co.; Butte, Montana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Daniels, William J. ; Gunter, Bobby J. ; Hales, Thomas R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Blue Range Engineering Company (SIC-1041), Butte, Montana, an evaluation was undertaken of employee exposure to lead (7439921) in the fire assay operations. One stage in fire assay involved separating noble metals in ore samples from lead in a process called cupelation. An 8 hour time weighted average lead concentration of 170 micrograms/cubic meter of air (microg/m3) was noted for the personal breathing zone sample for the assayist, which exceeded the limit of 50microg/m3 recommended by OSHA. The actual exposure may have been less since the employee was wearing respiratory protection. The result of area air sample analysis indicated that no other metals were present in significant amounts when compared to their environmental criteria. A medical survey indicated that workers were experiencing increased frequencies and intensities of symptoms consistent with lead poisoning compared to nonassay laboratory workers. Blood lead levels were significantly higher in assay laboratory workers than in other workers
  
  one of two assay laboratory workers had a blood lead level above 50 micrograms/deciliter. The authors conclude that a potential for lead exposure did exist at the time of the study and provide recommendations for lowering this exposure.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Blood Lead Lead Poisoning Minerals Occupational Health Poisoning Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Blood Lead FEP Fire Assay Gold Assay Gold Ores Hazard-Confirmed HETA-89-213-1992 Lead-poisoning Litharge Mineral-processing NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 8

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA892131992
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Montana ; 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:
  23 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00193978
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB90-193186
• 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 89-213-1992, 1989 Oct ; :1-21
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  1041 - Gold ores - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:46a8730f43b2894db405f5a9a83b957dd757cc08c290ac74bdc8ddb2b4cdafac4adbb561657966575666ca5a9c39c1dbe68c02b4cf51cd09fc5edaac5265721a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171783/cdc_171783_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB ]