Health Hazard Evaluation Report: MHETA-87-193-1865: Clarksburg Publishing Company; Clarksburg, West Virginia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kullman, Greg J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from employees at the Clarksburg Publishing Company (SIC-9441), Clarksburg, West Virginia, a study was made of work related health complaints at their Exponet Telegram Building (ETB). Particular attention was given to employees reporting symptoms of headache, sinus trouble, nasal irritation, blurred vision, dizziness, diarrhea, memory loss, muscle weakness/cramping, nausea, confusion, and chills. Of the 124 workers in the ETB, 46 percent completed an indoor air quality survey. Discomfort related to work was reported by about 16 percent, and about 5 percent reported work related illness. The most prevalent medical symptom was discomfort/irritation related to cigarette smoke. Three employees were interviewed, one of them with severe symptoms. It was possible that this worker was highly sensitive to formaldehyde (50000) or other irritants. Air samples indicated no contaminants present at levels above those recommended for working environments. Some of the temperature measurements taken were below suggested levels and some of the relative humidity measurements exceeded recommendations. The ventilation system for this facility was suboptimal and recommendations were offered for its improvement and routine maintenance, along with a recommendation for a restriction or ban on smoking. The author concludes that symptoms in ETB workers are consistent with "tight building syndrome."
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Irritants Occupational Health Safety Smokers Surveys And Questionnaires Tobacco Products Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Cigarette-smoking Closed-building-syndrome Hazards-Confirmed Indoor Air Pollution Medical-surveys MHETA-87-193-1865 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-buildings Office-workers OSHA Region 3 Respiratory-irritants Tight Building Syndrome

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHMHETA871931865
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; 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:
  25 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Stark, Gregory
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00179836
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-224191
• 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 87-193-1865, 1987 Dec ; :1-25
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9441 - Administration of social & manpower programs - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8b0ed3a13b9f00b40bb79823c78c82e0b1f28fe2ce91af2c8b2a77407f94933119c012a4e55a1d1c70cc00e41bface898e5f691760ac75caaca8917a7ecc0952
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171945/cdc_171945_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 880.90 KB ]