Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-85-020-1587: Department of the Interior, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge; Newark, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Belanger, Pierre L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Area air samples were analyzed for formaldehyde (50000) at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (SIC-9999), Newark, California in November and December 1984. The evaluation was requested by the manager to investigate whether the office staff at the headquarters and visitor center were being exposed to indoor air contaminants due to outgassing from plastic furniture, wood paneling, and the synthetic carpet. Six employees were interviewed to determine if they had experienced any symptoms of formaldehyde exposure. Formaldehyde concentrations ranged from nondetectable to 5ppm. Two employees reported respiratory irritation (cough), particularly during the spring and summer months. Both workers also reported having mild allergies. A slight formaldehyde odor was noticed in the biologist’s offices where formalin solutions were used occasionally to preserve specimens. The author concludes that a health hazard does not exist at the facility but recommends that the formalin solution be well controlled to prevent vapors from spreading to other areas. The formalin solution and other chemicals should be properly stored.
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Eye Foreign Bodies Formaldehyde Occupational Health Respiratory Protective Devices Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Eye-irritants Eye Irritation Hazards-Unconfirmed NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office Workers OSHA Region 9 Physiological-measurements Physiology Respirators Upper Respiratory Irritation

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA850201587
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:
  11 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00153679
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB86-132172
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 85-020-1587, 1985 May ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9999 - Nonclassifiable establishments - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fbec293aac1f95a5cc4528b407d3f7d470e5faa092325a3ea4db92219bdb5da5ee6a0287fb83822d31eb5708329ef6ec5f68e9b8f8f82e87681a9ac52af41fc0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172264/cdc_172264_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.80 MB ]