Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-295-1907: General Electric Carboloy Systems; Detroit, Michigan

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burr, Gregory A. ; Sinks, Thomas H.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from Local 771 of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, a study was made of possible hazardous working conditions at the General Electric Carboloy Systems (SIC-3369), Warren, Michigan. At this site 14,000 different tungsten-carbide and steel products were produced. Environmental and medical surveys were conducted in several of the buildings at the work site. The studies indicated a hazard to some employees in building 6 from cobalt (7440484) exposures. An automated system was being implemented in this building to perform operations such as powder weighing, milling, screening, and spray drying, in enclosed vessels. These operations were performed manually under local exhaust ventilation. The greatest exposures occurred to individuals who did not wear a particle mask and were determined to be 24.6 micrograms/cubic meter (microg/m3). The authors conclude that a hazard existed from airborne exposure to cobalt. The authors recommend that single use disposable respirators be replaced by half mask or full face respirators
  
  that the respiratory protection program be redesigned
  
  that smoking, eating, and drinking be prohibited when toxic materials are present
  
  and workers be evaluated for early detection of pneumoconiosis.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Dust Lung Metals Metal Workers Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Carbides Castings Cobalt Cobalt-compounds Hard Metals Disease Hazard-Confirmed HETA-85-295-1907 Iron Metal-dusts Metal-workers Metal Dust Nickel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nonferrous Foundries OSHA Region 5 Pulmonary-system-disorders Pulmonary Function Tests Respiratory Effects Tungsten Carbide

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA852951907
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; 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:
  46 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Ornella, Gregory A. ; Rondinelli, Ruth ; Ahrenholz, Steven H. ; Tubbs, Randy L. ; Coleman, Marion ; Stringer, William T. ; Townsend, Mary ; Jenkins, Sharon
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00182298
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-121008
• 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 85-295-1907, 1988 Jun ; :1-45
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cobalt (CAS RN 7440-48-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3369 - Nonferrous foundries, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:628dba6edfc951600803a51ad6317961dd900550988f81dace58dcba45ccdd28835cddfc50dd4bfc6d8e5880dc908291232bbbfd205179ddf76ee814200871b5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171890/cdc_171890_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.63 MB ]