Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-423-1904: General Electric Company; Evendale, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burr, Gregory A. ; Singal, Mitchell
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the International Association of Machinists, Local Lodge 912 a study was made of possible health hazards at the General Electric Company (SIC-3541), Evendale, Ohio. Workers were exposed to dusts generated during the grinding of tools and other components containing tungsten-carbide. Employee exposure to cobalt (7440484), nickel (7440020), chromium (7440473), tungsten (7440337), and total and respirable dust levels were evaluated for 15 machinists working in two cutting and grinding areas. Concentrations of nickel ranged from nondetectable to 20 micrograms/cubic meter (microg/m3), time weighted average, which exceeded the NIOSH recommended level of 15microg/m3. Other metals were below permissible levels. A group of 41 individuals participated in a medical study including chest x-ray and determination of blood and urine cobalt concentrations. No evidence of hard metal disease was noted on the 38 x-rays taken. Only two of ten participants had detectable blood cobalt levels. Of 63 urine specimens, 19 showed detectable cobalt. The authors conclude that a potential hazard existed from airborne exposure to nickel in cutter/grinding areas, and that a potential health hazard from cobalt exposure existed in Building 500. The authors recommend the use of appropriate respiratory protection for workers exposed to cobalt or inorganic nickel, and improvements in local exhaust ventilation systems.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Chromium Dust Metals Metal Workers Nickel Occupational Health Particulate Matter Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Airborne-dusts Cobalt Hazard-Confirmed HETA-85-423-1904 Machine Tools Metal-dusts Metal-workers Metal Cutting Types Metal Dust NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 5 Respiratory-protection Respiratory Protection Tunasten Carbide

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA854231904
• 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:
  25 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Hartle, Richard W. ; Rondinelli, Ruth ; DeArmond, Larry ; Coleman, Marion E. ; Sinks, Thomas H. ; Jenkins, Sharon
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00182293
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB89-120570
• 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 85-423-1904, 1988 Jun ; :1-23
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cobalt (CAS RN 7440-48-4) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Chromium (CAS RN 7440-47-3) ; Tungsten (CAS RN 7440-33-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3541 - Machine tools, metal cutting types - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7976add5b9348ff8679244a5a6f0de9f62f177d0e73f01de9c80a84bf65807e450332011893a10c5da87989ade717f4788d7d990e002801f849032f1c7762ee9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171895/cdc_171895_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.86 MB ]