Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-176-1826: St. James Community Hospital; Butte, Montana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Director of Nursing Service at St. James Community Hospital (SIC-8070) located in Butte, Montana, an evaluation was made of exposures to glutaraldehyde (111308) in the respiratory therapy and sigmoidoscopy departments of the hospital, where it was used in equipment sterilization. Glutaraldehyde concentrations in three breathing zone samples were 0.25mg/m3, samples, five showed measurable concentrations ranging from 0.48 to Hygienists has set a threshold limit value of 0.7mg/m3 ceiling value for glutaraldehyde. The author concludes that no health hazard exists for glutaraldehyde in these operations. Informal interviews of technicians in the two departments did not reveal any health problems which could be attributed to glutaraldehyde exposure. Respiratory therapy equipment was cleaned in a hallway used as a passageway for other personnel. It is recommended that an improved arrangement be devised for cleaning respiratory equipment and that the area used for this purpose not be used as a hallway. The author also recommends that the ventilation system for the sigmoidoscope disinfecting operations be shared with other facilities, as it was very effective.
• Subjects:
  Aldehydes Environmental Monitoring Formaldehyde Health Personnel Hospitals Inhalation Exposure Laboratories Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Glutaraldehyde Hazard-Unconfirmed Health-care-personnel HETA-87-176-1826 Hospital-equipment Inhalants Laboratory-workers Medical-personnel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nurses OSHA Region 8 Respiratory Therapy Sigmoidoscopy Sterilization

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA871761826
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Montana ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  10 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  DiGiacomo, Marile F.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00175430
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-162763
• 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 87-176-1826, 1987 Aug ; :1-13
• CAS Registry Number:
  Glutaraldehyde (CAS RN 111-30-8)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c63819454492d5f6e7df9b23234e7db3da23982d1942f24088c00aa50b54fc6b67c4eedb16fa123b0709ebfa79392fa42fc8d6c3d3d11fa6079ce1f4820190b3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172054/cdc_172054_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 150.69 KB ]