Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-043-1801: ACMI Company; Norwalk, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Laubli, Thomas ; Mathias, C. G. ; O'Malley, Michael A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from management, a health evaluation was conducted at the ACMI Company (SIC-3841) in Norwalk, Ohio to determine possible causes of an outbreak of dermatitis in workers involved in light carrier assembly. Of eight employees in this section, five had had outbreaks in 1986. Just prior to the dermatitis outbreak, fibermats were replaced by single optical fibers and production was increased. The sealant used was changed from Loctite-640 to Epo-Tec-377, but dermatitis had been noted before and after this change. During the making of the light carriers, isopropyl-alcohol (67630) was used to wet the fibers. A sealant was then applied to make the workpiece waterproof. No special methods were taken to prevent contact of the skin with the sealant. Intense and prolonged skin contact with the sealants occurred as a matter of course during the assembly. The investigators concluded that the skin problems were caused by contact with resins. The authors recommend that the work process be redesigned so that no unnecessary contact with the resin occurred. Synthetic rubber gloves should be worn whenever there is any possibility for skin contact to occur. Tabletops should be covered with disposable paper and a supply of paper towels kept on hand for accidental spills. A skin moisturizer should be provided by the company.
• Subjects:
  Dermatitis Hypersensitivity Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Skin
• Keywords:
  Acrylic Resin Allergic-reactions Dermatitis Epoxy Resin Hazard-Confirmed HETA-87-043-1801 Isopropyl Alcohol Manufacturing, Medical Equipment NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Optical Fibers OSHA Region 5 Personal-protective-equipment Skin-exposure

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA870431801
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  Godfrey, Joyce D.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00173098
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-126131
• 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 87-043-1801, 1987 May ; :1-12
• CAS Registry Number:
  Isopropyl alcohol (CAS RN 67-63-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3841 - Surgical and medical instruments - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21c821ab427da288c7e8567dd97d26b9684fd18625509f1f66944a4b23515b9355456eedbae77e94cead8b3650b10db74ed81f63043102469fd7a1075acbf667
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172089/cdc_172089_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 156.82 KB ]