Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-86-535-1797: E. M. Crouthamel Elementary School; Souderton, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Crandall, Michael S. ; Galson, Steven K.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Superintendent of Schools for the Souderton Area School District (SIC-8211), Souderton, Pennsylvania, an evaluation was made of possible exposures to formaldehyde (50000) in the E. M. Crouthamel Elementary School. Complaints had been filed at the school regarding a larger than normal number of headaches, episodes of nasal congestion, sore throats, and eye irritations among not only students but teachers as well. With the ventilation system turned off, formaldehyde concentrations ranged from 0.02 to 0.7 parts per million (ppm) in the areas where concern was the highest. When the ventilation system was turned on, the formaldehyde levels in these areas diminished. The source of the formaldehyde was identified as the plywood underlayment in some recently carpeted rooms. The authors conclude that a health hazard did not exist. The authors recommend the establishment of procedures to insure the involvement of parents, teachers and local and state health authorities when potential health problems are identified
  
  modification of the existing ventilation system to provide adequate fresh air as indicated by the most recent guidelines of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
  
  and followup monitoring of air quality.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Schools Ventilation Workplace
• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-quality-monitoring Carbon Dioxide Elementary And Secondary Schools Formaldehyde Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-86-535-1797 Indoor Air NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Teaching Ventilation Ventilation-equipment Workplace-studies

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA865351797
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; OSHA Region 3
• 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:
  25 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Morris, Linda
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00173096
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-128392
• 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 86-535-1797, 1987 May ; :1-30
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8211 - Elementary and secondary schools - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b6c2ff3942fb674610fb087ea6199cd06ce197e3ee182c081e71712ad3c2511de46deeb4db8b31d6ddf904c8c7c51317e7d6f41e1e3e7513f696c4706c597d8f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172091/cdc_172091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 293.12 KB ]