Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-125-1029: DHHS, Washington, D.C., No. HETA-81-352-1029: IBM; Lexington, Kentucky; Gaithersburg, Maryland

Details

• Personal Author:
  Berg, Sonia ; Costello, Richard J. ; Klemme, Jay C.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Director of the Office of Safety and Occupational Health of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIOSH undertook to determine whether HHS should install further IBM 3800 Printing Subsystems based on the fact that 2,4,7-trinitro-fluorene-9-one (129793) (TNF) is used in these photocopiers. TNF has been demonstrated to be mutagenic in-vitro and is a suspected carcinogen. An estimated population of 50,000 workers was potentially at risk, based on the distribution of these machines. Monitoring for TNF release from these systems was conducted at IBM facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Air samples from the IBM photoconductor production facilities in Lexington, Kentucky were analyzed for TNF, and medical records at this facility were reviewed. Additional analyses were conducted at three other HHS facilities. Analysis of 38 samples collected in the vicinity of IBM 3800 Printing Subsystems and Copier-II installations suggested that most TNF released from the photoconductor was collected on spent toner or by the internal machine ventilation. Removable TNF in one third of the swipe samples was associated with spent toner spills and the internal surfaces of the machines. TNF was present in the 3800 printer vacuum system bag and on access panels and structural members of both the 3800 and Copier-II systems. A review of IBM medical records did not yield any information of value concerning this problem. The authors conclude that, in the absence of any biological abnormality in potentially exposed workers, there is no health hazard to operators during routine use to the systems from exposure to TNF. The authors recommend that skin protection be worn during routine cleaning (vacuuming) and spent toner bag removal by operators.
• Subjects:
  Mutagens Occupational Health Printing Safety
• Keywords:
  Administration Of Public Health Programs Equipment-operators Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-81-125-1029 HETA-81-352-1029 IBM 3800 Printing Subsystems IBM Copier II NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-equipment Office-workers OSHA Region 3 OSHA Region 4 Printers TNF Trinitrofluoreneone

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA811253521029
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; Maryland ; District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  31 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Johnson, Patty ; Seymour, Martha ; Albrecht, William N.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00179176
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB83-202093
• 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 81-125-1029 and HETA 81- 352-1029, 1981 Dec ; :1-28
• CAS Registry Number:
  Trinitrofluorenone (CAS RN 129-79-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9431 - Administration of public health programs - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:767c4e39545e4124372027f7ab581501f2199d1360afa6b036e534fdd276cc93a57ae0056ec83e526573261bf86c7e3cf0369d9265962ff67d5841843e41ff04
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171971/cdc_171971_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.15 MB ]