Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-84-419-1697: USGS Laboratory; Doraville, Georgia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Rondinelli, Ruth ; Roper, C. Paul ; Salisbury, Stanley A. ; Wilcox, Thomas G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory (SIC- 9511), Doraville, Georgia requested an evaluation of physical complaints reported by employees to determine possible work related causes. Laboratory workers, in general, complained of physical symptoms which were irritative (rash, sore throat, nose or sinus irritation), neurological (numbness, muscle weakness) and nonspecific (dizziness, headache, emotional swings, insomnia, muscle aching, fatigue). Blood samples showed that five of the 51 workers in the study population had antinuclear antibodies detected in their blood. Sera of positive cases were analyzed for additional classes of antinuclear antibodies associated with specific connective tissue diseases. No common pattern could be found to indicate a drug or chemical induced etiology. Reported exposure to solvents such as benzene (71432), methylene-chloride (75092), hexane (110543) and acetone (67641) were positively related with light headedness or dizziness, numbness, unexplained muscle weakness and muscle aching. Air sampling did not reveal any remarkable exposure to chemical contaminants. The authors conclude that no relationship could be established between chemical exposures and antinuclear antibody positivity. Exposure to chemicals measured by air sampling were below occupational health exposure limits. The ventilation system has many inadequacies
  
  the authors recommend that it should be upgraded. Existing chemical waste disposal to open sanitary sewer drains in the floor should be corrected.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Laboratories Occupational Health Safety Solvents Workplace
• Keywords:
  Analytical Chemistry Antinuclear Antibodies Building-Related Illnesses Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-84-419-1697 Indoor Air Quality Laboratory-work Laboratory-workers NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Organic-solvents OSHA Region 4 Poor Ventilation Reticulocytes Water Quality Laboratories Water Resource Management Workplace-studies

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA844191697
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; 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:
  31 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00163562
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB87-106506
• 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 84-419-1697, 1986 May ; :1-29
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Methylene chloride (CAS RN 75-09-2) ; n-Hexane (CAS RN 110-54-3) ; Acetone (CAS RN 67-64-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1986
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9511 - Air, water, & solid waste management - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:982ac14cbebd30901e0bfef24641ba31b53b907e9026d190a5dfc399b60da462dc8d00aef8d990a3b69f73fb805120f0cbdfe646a22c0e69f8d3150910545be0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172183/cdc_172183_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.90 MB ]