Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-84-449-1778: Agrico Chemical Company; Pierce, Florida

Details

• Personal Author:
  Singal, Mitchell
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the International Chemical Workers Union an evaluation was made of respiratory problems among workers at the Agrico Chemical Company (SIC-2819) Pierce, Florida, which closed in 1979. Specific concern had been expressed regarding exposures to silica (7631869), coke, and asbestos (1332214). Of 108 persons participating in the study, 91 had worked at the elemental phosphorus facility (EP). Small, irregular interstitial pulmonary opacities were noted in two participants, and two others had pleural plaque. Of 88 participants who had ten or more years in the phosphate industry, the 36 workers with ten or more years in the EP facility were no more likely to have chronic cough, shortness of breath, abnormal lung sounds on physical examination, pulmonary function impairment, or x-ray signs of fibrogenic dust exposure than those with less than 10 years exposure. Those working longer than 10 years in the EP facility had numerically higher prevalence of chronic bronchitis and chronic wheeze, but the differences were not statistically significant. The author concludes that no association between health and time at the EP facility could be discerned from the available data, although it is possible that the study participants were not representative of all former facility workers.
• Subjects:
  Asbestos Inorganic Chemicals Lung Occupational Health Phosphorous Compounds Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Asbestos Asbestos-fibers Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-84-449-1778 Industrial Inorganic Chemicals, Not Elsewhere Classified NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 4 Phosphorus-compounds Phosphorus Production Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory Disease Silica-dusts

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA844491778
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Bennett, Diane E. ; Ruhe, Raymond L. ; Stringer, William T. ; Godfrey, Joyce D.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00169495
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-205886
• 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 84-449-1778, 1987 Feb ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9) ; Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2819 - Industrial inorganic chemicals, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9c60db0b465fe99e94691a9405964579dd99356b549c1dad632fab46a12db8a362c17c139208ba715056263bb2220cf79fedad260a87554bd452e637a1dcf095
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172111/cdc_172111_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.67 MB ]