Evaluation of Exposures and Symptoms from Heat Sealing Operations at a Plastic Film Assembly Facility

Details

• Personal Author:
  Couch, James R. ; Eisenberg, Judith S.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The Health Hazard Evaluation Program received a request from employees at a plastic and engineered film manufacturing facility. Employees were concerned about asthma, shortness of breath, heaviness in lungs, headaches, and other health problems that could be associated with high heat plastic sealing operations. We visited the facility twice
  
  the second visit occurred after the company changed owners and discontinued using the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) source product (blown film) in heat sealing operations that employees most associated with health complaints. Responses to our occupational asthma screening questions during the first site visit revealed three employees with possible work-related asthma. After the elimination of the blown film source material, fewer heat sealing employees reported headache and other irritant symptoms, but some continued to experience headaches and asthma-like symptoms. During our first visit, we identified the presence of the plasticizer, diethyl phthalate in a very low concentration on one screening sample taken on a heat sealer line. In both visits, we also found very low concentrations of various aldehydes in several air samples. Although these volatile organic compounds were present in concentrations well below occupational exposure limits, the combination of volatile organic compounds could cause irritant symptoms in some employees. We found carbon monoxide that could have been the result of propane-powered forklift use. We recommended maintaining and tuning forklifts, and conducting full-shift carbon monoxide exposure monitoring on employees.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Aldehydes Asthma Asthma, Occupational Carbon Monoxide Engineering Environmental Monitoring Formaldehyde Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Hot Temperature Lung Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Phthalic Acids Plastics Propane Respiratory System Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Volatile Organic Compounds

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• Keywords:
  Air Sampling Breathing Carbon Monoxide Diethyl Phthalate Employee Exposure Forklifts Health Effects Health Surveys Heat Heat Sealing Hydrogen Chloride Lung Function Manufacturing Medical Monitoring Medical Screening Occupational Asthma OSHA Region 8 Phthalates Plastic Plastic Films Plasticizers Plastic Seals Polyvinyl Chloride PVC Questionnaires South Dakota Unlaminated Plastics Film And Sheet (Except Packaging) Manufacturing VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds

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• Source:
  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, HHE 2014-0111-3280, 2017 May ; :1-23
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE201401113280
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  South Dakota ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  30 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Booher, Donald E. ; Feldmann, Karl D. ; Galloway, Ellen ; Grimes, George R. ; Moore, Kevin ; Ramsey, Jessica G. ; Watts, Shawna
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049857
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2017-102699
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2017]. Evaluation of exposures and symptoms from heat sealing operations ; at a plastic film assembly facility. By Couch J, Eisenberg J. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. ; Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and ; Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report 2014-0111-3280,
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Hydrochloric acid, anhydrous (CAS RN 7647-01-0) ; Polyvinyl Chloride (CAS RN 9002-86-2) ; Propane (CAS RN 74-98-6) ; Diethyl phthalate (CAS RN 84-66-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  326113 - Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:58e6cdefef101c9ccdc3a08218cf0664b1d9b3611948d5684c1dabb121201a1c8ca10c5e9693495dea1bdc2e7ad6c576e10e31dd7e7735fe5989ead5dd1f7a28
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172390/cdc_172390_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.53 MB ]