Health Hazard Evaluation Report: MHETA-88-088-1925: Penreco; Karns City, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cornwell, Ronnie J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from an official of the Pennzoil Product Company (SIC-2911), located in Karns City, Pennsylvania, an investigation was made of possible hazardous working conditions at this site. An employee in the storeroom building had experienced eye and skin irritation starting in November of 1986 and continuing until May 1987 when his physician suggested he not return to work. Principal products manufactured at this location included white mineral-oil (8012951), ink oil solvents, and petrolatum (8012951). The storeroom was in itself a large building housing various supplies and machine parts including bulk chemicals which were stored in drums or small containers on the floor, in bins, and on shelves. There was usually one storeroom employee and a supervisor in this building. This particular employee had worked in the storeroom for 15 years. His symptoms began during a turnaround at the site when hydroparts from the hydrotreater were kept in the storeroom. The patient was still experiencing recurring eye irritation and dermatitis of the face, arms, and neck. He suffered symptoms while away from the workplace for several days and even months, bringing into question the original premise that the cause was a work related exposure. No success has been obtained in isolating or identifying any environmental cause of these symptoms at his workplace. The author suggests that a ubiquitous environmental trigger may be responsible or that the patient has a medical condition unrelated to known environmental causes.
• Subjects:
  Dermatitis Eye Foreign Bodies Hypersensitivity Irritants Occupational Health Safety Skin Skin Diseases
• Keywords:
  Allergic-reactions Dermatitis Eye-irritants Hazard-Unconfirmed MHETA-88-088-1925 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Oil Refinery OSHA Region 3 Respiratory-irritants Skin-disorders Skin-exposure Skin-irritants Storeroom

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHMHETA880881925
• 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:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  12 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00184445
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-152359
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, MHETA 88-088-1925, 1988 Jul ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Paraffin oils (CAS RN 8012-95-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2911 - Petroleum refining - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bf57264817b4b89f025710e6996899a1df06497faf150c218d7be7720c46f434174cfc20f1e418aee9228c37580aac0411e8acf54945d112e0a8b905ad3c7a45
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171869/cdc_171869_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 398.40 KB ]