Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-86-277-1750: Project Orbis, Inc.; New York, New York

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boiano, James M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the nurse administrator of Project Orbis, Inc. (SIC-8069), New York, New York, exposures to anesthetics and ethylene-oxide (75218) were evaluated aboard the aircraft used as a teaching eye hospital. Each mission involved about 20 staff members. Anesthetics included nitrous oxide (10024972), halothane (151677), and isoflurane (26675467). Ethylene-oxide was used for equipment sterilization. Breathing zone and general air samples were collected, and analytical methods included gas chromatography, spectrophotometry, and adsorbent based dosimetry. Nitrous-oxide exposure during anesthesia ranged from 42 to 137 parts per million (ppm), exceeding NIOSH limit of 25ppm
  
  exposure from the cryosurgery machine was 16ppm maximum. During surgery, exposures to halothane and isoflurane were 0.28 to 3.4ppm and 0.19 to 2.2ppm, respectively, both exceeding NIOSH limit of 0.5ppm. Recovery room nurses were overexposed to nitrous-oxide (up to 79ppm) and isoflurane (0.96ppm) from patients. The audiovisual room contained high levels during anesthetic use. Exposures to ethylene-oxide were 1.6 to 17ppm during sterilization processes and up to 12ppm at initial aircraft boarding
  
  NIOSH short term 10-minute limit of 5ppm was not exceeded. This gas may present a cancer risk. The author concludes that anesthetic exposures are excessive, and ethylene-oxide exposure is a potential risk. Recommendations include engineering controls to limit anesthetic exposure, and good sterilization work practices.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anesthesia Environmental Monitoring Ethylenes Health Personnel Nitrous Oxide Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Aircraft Anesthesiology Anesthetic Gases Ethylene Oxide Exposure-levels Halogenated-compounds Halothane Hazards-Confirmed HETA-86-277-1750 Isoflurane Medical-personnel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitrous-oxides Nitrous Oxide OSHA Region 2 Oxides Specialty Hospitals

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA862771750
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; 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:
  16 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Jenkins, Sharon
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00167885
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-187837
• 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 86-277-1750, 1986 Nov ; :1-25
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ethylene oxide (CAS RN 75-21-8) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7) ; Isoflurane (CAS RN 26675-46-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8069 - Specialty hospitals except psychiatric - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dde9cd0234e1450bf1ec7225af337b10c889f3859ed92518a7ab329afc8f88eca7f7af3ef5245eed195adfaa521fae06c4944158b0d79693bcc5fbf064f4b314
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172126/cdc_172126_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.11 KB ]