Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-84-248-1694: Wasson Elementary School; Dubois, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Aw, Tar-Ching ; Gorman, Richard W.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The DuBois area school district DuBois, Pennsylvania requested an evaluation due to complaints of bloody nose, dry eyes, upper respiratory irritation, and headaches among students and faculty at the Wasson Elementary School (SIC-8211). All 24 teachers were involved in a questionnaire that focused on medical histories and symptoms related to working in the school. Environmental air samples revealed trace concentrations of organic vapors, primarily toluene (108883) and C9 to C12 hydrocarbons. Carbon-dioxide (124389) levels measured 200 parts per million (ppm) outside and up to 800 ppm inside, suggesting that the amount of fresh air coming into the building was inadequate. The distribution of that air within the building was inadequate. The authors conclude that the health complaints were related to poor indoor air quality caused by deficiencies in the ventilation system. The heating/cooling system had many deficiencies related to design, installation, and maintenance. The authors recommended improvements to be made in the system, including cleaning air filters, adjusting dampers, leaving classroom doors open, using fans to promote mixing of outside air, and setting thermostats at the same setting. After the recommended improvements in the system were made, complaints were greatly reduced.
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Formaldehyde Irritants Isocyanates Occupational Health Safety Schools Ventilation Workplace
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-control Air-quality-measurement Elementary And Secondary Schools Hazard-Confirmed HETA-84-248-1694 Indoor Air Quality NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Respiratory-irritants Teachers 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/NIOSHHETA842481694
• 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:
  24 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Grass, Jacqueline
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00163563
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-106514
• 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 84-248-1694, 1986 May ; :1-22
• CAS Registry Number:
  Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1986
• 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-512:541b944f787b2403ba08b5039f4855395394fc752790806ca615fe2f5939c7d8eb9afc81081102c7d4d9cd2710e2c517278aa67dc7fe0e146688768974028c80
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172182/cdc_172182_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.77 MB ]