Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-89-007-1983: St. Thomas More Hospital; Canyon City, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Daniels, William J. ; Gunter, Bobby J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from St. Thomas More Hospital (SIC-8062), Canyon City, Colorado, an evaluation was made of possible health hazards to workers due to exposure to waste anesthetic gases in the operating rooms of the hospital. Exposures to ethylene-oxide (75218) used in gas sterilization, formaldehyde (50000) used in the morgue, and organic solvents used in the histology laboratory were investigated. The 81 bed hospital was housed in a two story building with a basement. Five of the samples for nitrous-oxide (10024972) exceeded the NIOSH recommended exposure limit of 25 parts per million (ppm) during the period of anesthetic administration. Time weighted average concentrations of isoflurane (26675467) had a mean of 0.23ppm and halothane (151677) had a mean of 0.15ppm. Toluene (108883) and isopropyl-alcohol (67630) were below their limits of detection. Formaldehyde was found at a time weighted average concentration of 4.8ppm, which was above the OSHA permissible exposure level of 2.0ppm as a 15 minute ceiling. The author concludes that at the time of this survey the potential did exist for overexposure to waste anesthetic gases and vapors and formaldehyde. The author recommends specific measures to be taken to control employee exposures.
• Subjects:
  Disinfectants Hazardous Substances Health Personnel Laboratories Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Ethylene Oxide Formaldehyde General Medical & Surgical Hospitals Halothane Hazard-Confirmed Health-care-personnel HETA-89-007-1983 Histology Isoflurane Laboratory-workers NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitrous Oxide Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 8 Solvent-vapors Toxic-gases

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA890071983
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; 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:
  22 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00193566
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB90-179102
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 89-007-1983, 1989 Sep ; :1-21
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ethylene oxide (CAS RN 75-21-8) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Isoflurane (CAS RN 26675-46-7) ; Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Isopropyl alcohol (CAS RN 67-63-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1989
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cecb67841acd13e3b322561a2188b80a51cc905b098465e09ffe5181d82dddeee991fef153d1352cff243fd87ea43ddbb7b7e708d42932b40ff5be5a858e5841
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171796/cdc_171796_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.78 KB ]