Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-337-1125: Borden Chemical Division; Fayetteville, North Carolina

Details

• Personal Author:
  Williams, Ted M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request concerning workers at the Borden Chemical Division (SIC-2821), Fayetteville, North Carolina, an evaluation was made of on-the-job exposures to formaldehyde (50000). This facility has been producing formaldehyde products for about 25 years. A total of 21 personal and 135 area air samples were collected during three separate first shift surveys. Worker exposure was indicated to be less than 1.0 parts per million (ppm) except at the truck loading area during a formaldehyde spill and at the Hexa plant where mixing and bagging of dry chemicals occurs which increases the potential hazard, primarily for hexamethylenetetramine (100970) exposure. Formaldehyde levels in the quality control laboratory frequently ranged from 0.04 to 0.27ppm over 60 to 80 minutes. The author concludes that since formaldehyde has been identified as a suspected carcinogen, worker exposures should be reduced to the lowest feasible limit. Exposure to formaldehyde in the quality control laboratory could be significantly decreased if fresh air devoid of contaminants could be brought in from an area beyond the reaction zone. This air should be delivered in such as way as to make the room under slightly positive pressure, facilitating the use of laboratory hoods. Worker technique was also a significant factor in determining the amount of formaldehyde which is allowed to escape to the atmosphere. The author recommends that a program for monitoring concentrations of formaldehyde vapor to which personnel are exposed be initiated.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Environmental Monitoring Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Phenol Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Chemical-industry-workers Chemical-manufacturing-industry Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resins, Phenol, Chemical Workers Hazard-Confirmed HETA-81-337-1125 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Odors Organic-vapors OSHA Region 4 Phenols Ventilation-systems

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA813371125
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; 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:
  32 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Bishop, Carolyn C. ; McDaniel, Jessie ; Hickey, J. L. S. ; Williams, Ted M. ; Hooker, Pamela
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00179168
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-140763
• 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 81-337-1125, 1982 Jun ; :1-30
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Hexamethylenetetramine (CAS RN 100-97-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2821 - Plastics materials and resins - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4e7e8f5b63feb351da71c95bf148e3424676f4de601234cc62104e70d9631827630adee13c0d0068e9614c11a12380d356b53d781e0cd75566c5664b40d635f7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171979/cdc_171979_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.22 MB ]