Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-307-1917: Downing Displays, Inc.; Cincinnati, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Almaguer, Daniel
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the management at Downing Displays, Inc. (SIC-3993), Cincinnati, Ohio, a study was made to investigate eye, nose and throat irritation in workers. Downing Displays manufactured portable displays for use in advertising and sales promotion. Initially, workers suspected the irritating odor to be arising from a sewer drain. Further study revealed that the source was probably an adhesive product which contained trace quantities of formaldehyde (50000). Air in the breathing zone of the workers contained formaldehyde at 0.23 to 0.28 parts per million, while general air samples contained 0.23 to 3.3 parts per million
  
  NIOSH has recommended that occupational exposures to formaldehyde be to the lowest feasible level. Adhesive made from Lot CUR-368 was also demonstrated to contain five to seven times the formaldehyde contained in adhesive from lots CFR-105 and CER-180. The author concludes that workers were exposed to formaldehyde concentrations in excess of the Recommended Exposure Limit. The author recommends that an adhesive which does not contain formaldehyde be substituted, appropriate engineering controls be implemented, personal and general area air monitoring be conducted, and that the manufacturer of Lot CUR-368 be informed of the excess formaldehyde in this formulation.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adhesives Eye Foreign Bodies Irritants Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Eye-irritants Formaldehyde Hazard-Confirmed HETA-87-307-1917 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 5 Respiratory-irritants Signs And Advertising Displays
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA873071917
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  10 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00183539
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-140255
• 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 87-307-1917, 1988 Aug ; :1-15
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3993 - Signs and advertising specialities - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:695ad997bbbbaf26fc3e55669ffd23873d21eb5400b29b45c2f6b79ed0251a4f15963c4350ce9642612fa08843e160f699bc2c43d206eb966a9a265df9481a9c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171875/cdc_171875_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 153.60 KB ]