Evaluation of Employee Exposures in a Bus Maintenance Shop

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sussell, Aaron L. ; Tapp, Loren C.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  NIOSH received a confidential employee request for an HHE at the Huntington Coach Corporation bus repair and body shops, Huntington Station, New York, in November 2006. Employees were concerned that exposures to cleaning solvents, paint vapors, diesel exhaust, and asbestos-containing brake dust were causing skin rashes and respiratory irritation. The request also mentioned possible safety hazards including ignition sources near flammable liquids and use of unsafe vehicle jack stands. On March 15, 2007, we conducted an evaluation that included an opening meeting with management and union representatives, a walk-through survey of the facility's 4th Avenue body shop and 5th Avenue maintenance shop, observations of work practices and PPE use, employee exposure and health assessments, an assessment of building ventilation and potential solvent exposure, and confidential employee interviews. We also collected bulk samples of brake pad pieces and dust samples from the brake rotor lathe and the brake drums and wheels of buses being serviced. We found fiberglass and cellulose in the bulk samples of dust and brake shoes and pads, but no asbestos. In the 5th Avenue maintenance shop, connections between vehicle exhaust pipes and flexible exhaust hoses were loose, and the flexible hoses often did not extend to the outdoors. In the 4th Avenue body shop, a poorly ventilated flammable liquid storage cabinet was overfilled. Two brake cleaners used by the maintenance shop contained tetrachloroethylene, a potential carcinogen. One employee had contact dermatitis that may have been work related. We recommend tightening connections between exhaust pipes and flexible exhaust hoses and increasing the length of the flexible hoses so they extend outdoors to reduce diesel exhaust exposure within the maintenance shop. We recommend using brake cleaners that do not contain tetrachloroethylene and continuing use of brake shoes and pads that contain no asbestos. The flammable liquid storage cabinet should be ventilated and relocated away from potential ignition sources. Huntington Coach should provide nitrile rubber gloves instead of latex gloves to reduce skin contact with fiberglass, grease, and solvents. We recommend that the company ensure that their written respiratory protection program conforms to OSHA requirements and a no-smoking policy is enforced. Employees should be encouraged to report potentially work-related health problems to their supervisors so that workplace problems can be addressed.
• Subjects:
  Asbestos Automobiles Dust Glass Inorganic Chemicals Irritants Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Skin Solvents Vehicle Emissions Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Asbestos Asbestos-dust Asbestos-fibers Automobile-repair-shops Automotive-emissions Automotive-exhausts Diesel-emissions Diesel-exhausts Diesel Exhaust Engine Grease Exhaust-gases Fibrous-glass OSHA Region 2 Personal-protective-equipment Respiratory-irritants Respiratory-protective-equipment Respiratory Irritation School And Employee Bus Transportation Skin-irritants Skin Irritation Solvent-vapors Tetrachloroethylene Ventilation-systems

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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, HETA 2007-0055-3073, 2008 Oct ; :1-15
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA200700553073
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• 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:
  Burr, Gregory A. ; Evans, Stefanie M. ; Galloway, Ellen ; Smith, Robin
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034722
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2009-103601
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2008]. Health Hazard Evaluation Report: Evaluation of employee ; exposure in a bus maintenance shop, Huntington Station, NY: Cincinnati, OH: ; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and ; Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH HETA ; No. 2007-0055-3073,
• CAS Registry Number:
  Perchloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  485410 - School and Employee Bus Transportation - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d92752fbf8bf18c15d3d1be64dfe8c18561508f5c0f57d68ffe89a5ce2f9b0d8891f6b23e29657c79f3eda193503e63a7e769d58fc3691ccf3d61c9d207c1a3f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172563/cdc_172563_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.52 MB ]