Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-046-1763: American Crystal Sugar Company; East Grand Forks, Minnesota

Details

• Personal Author:
  Almaguer, Daniel ; Boiano, James M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Following a request from the American Federation of Grain Millers International Union and management of the American Crystal Sugar Company (ACSCO), employee exposures to airborne contaminants during beet processing and welding fumes during facility maintenance were determined at a sugar beet mill (SIC-2063) owned by ACSCO. Beet processing involved 680 workers, and welding exposed a potential ten to 15 workers to metal fumes. Personal and general air samples were analyzed for chemicals and total and respirable dusts, and total welding fumes and metals were analyzed from personal samples. Analytical methods included chromatography, spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and gravimetry. Exposures in excess of the most stringent criteria were found for calcium-oxide (1305788) and calcium-carbonate (471341) in lime kiln workers, sugar dust in sugar bin workers, insoluble hexavalent chromium (18540299) and nickel (7440020) during welding, total welding fumes in one case, and nickel during a metal coating spray process. Quartz (14808607) was found in several settled dust samples and high volume air samples. Nickel and chromium exposures presented potential cancer risks. The authors conclude that workers were overexposed to calcium-oxide, calcium-carbonate, sugar dust, total welding fumes, hexavalent chromium and nickel at this facility. Recommendations include particulate containment, ventilation, and respiratory protection where appropriate.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Ferrous Compounds Metals Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Silicon Dioxide Welding
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling BCME Beet Sugar Calcium Carbonate Calcium Oxide Exposure-levels Hazards-Confirmed HETA-85-046-1763 Hexavalent Chromium Iron Oxide Metallic-fumes Nickel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 5 Particulate-dust Pulp Dust Silica Sugar-beets Sugar-industry Sugar Dust Welders Welding Fumes

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA850461763
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; 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:
  41 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Bryant, Charles J. ; Jenkins, Sharon
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00167875
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-189460
• 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 85-046-1763, 1986 Dec ; :1-38
• CAS Registry Number:
  Calcium oxide (CAS RN 1305-78-8) ; Calcium carbonate (CAS RN 471-34-1) ; Hexavalent chromium (CAS RN 18540-29-9) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Silica, Crystalline (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1987
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2063 - Beet sugar - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dd4d9cb554d74576ce52f17beaa3816e9daebf75d5c77180cbfc74954158e39d327f235570004d0a66815edb7a103a9429a1c7bfd247e78a06746c5f1971fa2c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172136/cdc_172136_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.12 MB ]