Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-257-1791: Mercy Medical Center; Denver, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Pryor, Paul D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A health hazard evaluation of exposures to glutaraldehyde (111308) during disinfection procedures was conducted at Mercy Medical Center (SIC-8062), Denver, Colorado, as a result of a request from management. Nurses at the facility used glutaraldehyde to disinfect surgical equipment, bronchoscopes, x-ray table tops, and other contaminated surfaces. The ACGIH threshold limit value (TLV) for glutaraldehyde was 0.2 parts per million as a ceiling concentration, equivalent to 0.7mg/m3. Area air samples for glutaraldehyde ranged up to 0.74mg/m3, and personal samples ranged up to 1.98mg/m3. All personal samples in the radiology and emergency departments exceeded the TLV. Interviews with exposed workers indicated that eye, nose and throat irritation and chest tightness have occurred during use of glutaraldehyde, particularly in small rooms. The author concludes that workers in the radiology and emergency departments have been overexposed to glutaraldehyde. The author recommends that exposures to glutaraldehyde be reduced by the following measures: use of local exhaust hood ventilation
  
  use of two gloves on each hand
  
  use of cartridge respirators if necessary
  
  periodic review of work practices
  
  safe work practice training
  
  air monitoring
  
  proper treatment after eye or skin contact
  
  and provision of medical evaluations when adverse effects have occurred.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Disinfectants Environmental Monitoring Eye Foreign Bodies Health Personnel Hospitals Occupational Health Safety Skin
• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-samples Cleaning/Disinfecting Eye, Skin, And Respiratory Irritation Eye-irritants General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Glutaraldehyde Hazard-Confirmed HETA-85-257-1791 Medical-personnel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 8 Skin-irritants

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA852571791
• 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:
  14 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Griffith, Patricia
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00171111
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-233045
• 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 85-257-1791, 1987 Apr ; :1-11
• CAS Registry Number:
  Glutaraldehyde (CAS RN 111-30-8)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:95b9e4e2c7919587bbcfc07996b463f8a467ab1efe4911ce28d26f090d24d460c3fa92775c1c936c4613759a42ac0cc41153940aa0b42e6b55b03226b35b3d2b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172096/cdc_172096_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.74 MB ]