Health Hazard Evaluation Report: MHETA-85-226-1839: Freshlabs, Inc.; Warren, Michigan

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ferguson, Rick P. ; Sanderson, Wayne T.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from workers at the Freshlabs vitamin manufacturing facility (SIC-2834) located in Warren, Michigan, a study was made of dust exposures, with specific attention to asbestos (1332214) in ceiling insulation. Over half of all workers (about 70) reported watery itchy eyes, sneezing, or runny stuffy noses. Symptoms of skin rashes, cough, chest tightness, and shortness of breath were also reported throughout the facility. Dust concentrations were highest in the composition area, where all workers experienced irritation of eyes, nose, and throat, and a few developed occupational asthma confirmed by company physicians. Workers were exposed to several vitamin products which were irritating to eyes and nasal and respiratory mucosa because of acidity. Some workers became hypersensitive to dusts due to protein and polysaccharide contents. Most samples showed total and respirable dust measurements well below Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure limits for nuisance dusts. However, these are not common nuisance dust components. The authors suggest that the limits provide little protection for average workers exposed to such dusts. Asbestos sampling revealed potential hazard from falling insulation. Recommendations pertaining to local exhaust hoods, amended work practices, use of personal dust respirators, avoidance of skin contact, and proper ceiling insulation are offered.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Asbestos Asthma Asthma, Occupational Dust Environmental Monitoring Eye Foreign Bodies Inorganic Chemicals Lung Occupational Health Particulate Matter Pharmacies Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Ventilation

  More +
• Keywords:
  Acidic Dusts Air-sampling Airborne-dusts Airborne-fibers Breathing-zone Dust-control Dust-inhalation Eye Irritation Hazard-Confirmed Mucosal Irritation NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nuisance Dusts OSHA Region 5 Pharmaceutical-industry Pharmaceutical Preparations Pulmonary-system-disorders

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHMHETA852261839
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  55 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00175422
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-162664
• 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 85-226-1839, 1987 Aug ; :1-54
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2834 - Pharmaceutical preparations - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:765504638316f909e68436e9c95e93939d3103b4b86b35f50efd40497aa4d9da932265d08b63df58f9ea08befb873f0a42268a9d0e1617dd791a4ba2ef2572b1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172059/cdc_172059_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.11 MB ]