Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report HE 76-39-604, Neville Chemical Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Pryor, Paul D. ; Tanaka, Shiro
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A medical and environmental evaluation was conducted among the workers at Neville Chemical Company. The purpose of this study was to assess the concentrations of air contaminants in the work environment, as well as to detect the potential for acute or chronic health problems resulting from suspected exposure to respirable dust (containing resin), hydrogen chloride, benzene, toluene, styrene, xylene and oil mist. Also, of concern were the suspected health hazards to various chemicals that we were unable to evaluate environmentally due to the infrequency of the operation (e.g. maintenance-filter changes, kettle repairs, etc.) and/or the operation was closed down e.g. TBC-pyrocatechol. Breathing zone and area samples were taken for respirable and total dust, hydrogen chloride, benzene, toluene, styrene, xylene, and oil mist. In a number of those jobs considered to be at risk, that is, occupations where operators were working at a site where an obvious problem existed (e.g., flaker packaging operations) exposure levels did exceed the recent hygienic standards. Medical questionnaires, which included occupational history, past medical history, current symptoms, alcohol and smoking history, and respiratory questions were administered
  
  Physical examinations including: eye, nose, throat, skin, blood pressure, respiratory and cardiovascular system were performed
  
  Pulmonary function tests
  
  Chest X-ray
  
  and laboratory tests (urine and blood) were also performed. A total of 155 individuals were interviewed and examined. The medical data show that 32% of the controls were less than 30 years of age and 47% of the exposed group were under 30 years of age. For the control group, 67% had been employed less than 10 years and for the exposed group 90% had been employed less than 10 years. There appeared to be no association between reported respiratory symptoms in the exposed group with or without controlling for smoking history. The only association between reported respiratory symptoms and length of employment was seen within the control group but not the exposure group. The symptom "wheezing" was associated with exposure groups within the employed ≤10 year category. No association between reported past illnesses and exposure group was found. An association between reported allergies and exposure group was due to an excess in the control group reporting asthma and food allergies. An association between the reported physical symptom "tired and weakness" and the exposure group was due to excessive positives in the resin and maintenance departments. This excess of positives was present for under 40 years but not over 40 years of age. The symptom "chest tightness or difficulty breathing" appeared to be in excess in the resin department again in the ≤10 year age group. The symptoms "eye irritation", "nose irritation" and "dry or sore throat" were reported to a greater extent (as compared to controls) in the resin department. The physician's physical exam showed an association of skin abnormalities with the exposure group. It appears that the maintenance, shipping, labor and resin departments showed a greater prevalence of skin abnormalities as compared to the control group. Based on the results of this survey it appears that a potentially toxic situation existed and may still exist for those workers considered to be at high risk, e.g., flaker-packaging operators. This conclusion is based on the following evidence: elevated air concentration of respirable and total dust present in the packaging operations
  
  the higher incidence of various physical symptoms e.g., tired, weakness, chest tightness (difficulty breathing), eye and nose irritation, dry or sore throat, and skin abnormalities in the resin-flaker packaging operators.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Benzene Dust Lung Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Safety Solvents Styrene Surveys And Questionnaires Toluene Xylenes

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• Keywords:
  Air Contaminants Air Contamination Chemical Factory Workers Chemical Industry Workers Chemical Safety Chest X-Ray Hydrogen Chloride Oil Mist Oil Mists OSHA Region 3 Physical Examinations Pulmonary Function Tests Questionnaires Respirable Dust Solvent Vapors Xylene

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• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HHE 76-39-604, 1979 Jul ; :1-56
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE7639604
• 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:
  56 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Burg, JeAnne ; Flesch, Jerome P. ; Gilles, Dawn ; Lowe, Dorothy ; Morris, Linda ; Schloemer, JoAnne
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049306
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2017-101760
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Styrene (CAS RN 100-42-5) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7) ; Hydrochloric acid, anhydrous (CAS RN 7647-01-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1979
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e888e7485aab9729e9e6aa6207dbcf155470e182cb658a7084bfb5d5cd9ad0d0b77da90887ab9fde35e59ee87c1719265867d76d68c9753b806981b4f068b55d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172399/cdc_172399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 8.17 MB ]