Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-223-1813: Bestop, Inc.; Boulder, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from management of Bestop, Incorporated (SIC-2396) located in Boulder, Colorado, an environmental evaluation was made of radiofrequency (RF) exposures during the heat sealing of automobile accessories. Forty measurements were taken for electric (E) fields and the values ranged from 6.0 to 104000 volts squared per meter squared (V2/M2). Of these 40 measurements 28 exceeded the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienist (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values of 3770V2/M2. Of the same 40 measurements, 6 exceeded the OSHA limit of 40000V2/M2. Of 40 measurements taken for magnetic (H) fields, the values ranged from 0.0002 amperes squared per meter squared (A2/M2) to 0.100A2/M2 with none of these measurements exceeding the OSHA standard of 0.25A2M2. The only complaint the workers expressed concerning the RF sealers was that several had been burned by touching metal parts that had been heated by these sealers. The author concludes that a health hazard from overexposure to RF existed at the time of this evaluation. Additional shielding was needed to lower exposures to levels less than the ACGIH threshold limit values.
• Subjects:
  Automobiles Electricity Magnetic Fields Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Radiation Radio Waves Safety
• Keywords:
  Automotive-industry Automotive Trimmings, Apparel Findings, And Related Products Electrical-fields Electric And Magnetic Fields Factory-workers Hazard-Confirmed HETA-87-223-1813 Magnetic-fields NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nonionizing-radiation OSHA Region 8 Radio-waves Radiofrequency Heat-sealers

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA872231813
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; 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:
  8 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  DiGiacomo, Marile F.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00174337
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-153325
• 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 87-223-1813, 1987 Jul ; :1-10
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2396 - Automotive and apparel trimmings - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a2e7a7e41df69365b0f53f2a2ed68f356d6b5418db5fc11f21736dbd13b6118116c5a7f2ef865d0fd697cf4722c2b240c7518fe51e8c292d79c9d6c870088633
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172066/cdc_172066_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 148.48 KB ]