Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-86-486-1799: New Jersey Education Association; Trenton, New Jersey

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jenkins, Jule ; Liveright, Timothy ; Mehta, Maharshi
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the president of the General Staff Association of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) (SIC- 9451) an evaluation was made of the NJEA building in Trenton, New Jersey due to reports of headache, sore throat, and eye irritation among employees. Air monitoring tests were conducted for formaldehyde (50000) carbon-dioxide (124389), carbon-monoxide, (630080), dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, humidity and air velocity at air inlet and exhaust diffusers. Very little to no air movement was detected at employee work locations. Inside the building the carbon-dioxide concentrations were two to four times those outside the building. Controls used to operate dampers and supply outdoor air in some cases appeared faulty and needed inspection and adjustment. Relative humidity was lower than recommended. No detectable levels of formaldehyde or carbon- monoxide were found. Eighty percent of the employees returned completed questionnaires concerning symptoms of health problems. Repeated complaints of dryness of mucous membranes, dryness of eyes, headache, and tiredness were noted. The authors recommend that the air velocity be increased to 30 to 35 feet/minute in the work areas of the building. Other recommended improvements include relocation of the outdoor exhaust stack, redesign of inlet diffusers to direct the air down further into the work areas, redesign of ventilation systems if needed, and restriction of smoking to specified areas of the building.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-quality Air-sampling Carbon Dioxide Hazard-Confirmed HETA-86-486-1799 Indoor Air Pollution NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers Office Building OSHA Region 2 Relative Humidity Temperature

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA864861799
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• 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:
  19 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00173114
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-128400
• 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 86-486-1799, 1987 May ; :1-17
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9451 - Administration of veterans' affairs - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fc36078a17fa3c7b7117b75d2fe2c7655457677c2651f58c62afd60111d34d9f800ba10e916c3678e1e1809f13717bf4c7463be90b4bbcf5426587e4e40876bf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172083/cdc_172083_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 650.31 KB ]