Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 2007-0095-3063: Nonionzing Radiation Exposure to Technicians at a Satellite Communications Facility

Details

• Personal Author:
  Durgam, Srinivas ; Eisenberg, Judith S. ; Sylvain, David C.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  On January 12, 2007, the National Weather Service Employees Organization submitted a HHE request on behalf of civilian employees at the U.S. Department of Commerce WCDAS, Wallops, Virginia. The request concerned two incidents in which electronic technicians repairing equipment were believed to have been exposed to high levels of nonionizing RF radiation. The request noted that two employees involved in these incidents reported persistent neurological symptoms and that the facility had no RF safety program. In response to the HHE request, a NIOSH team of a medical officer and two industrial hygienists visited the facility on March 14-15, 2007. During the site visit, the team toured the facility and interviewed employees in a confidential setting. We reviewed OSHA 300 Injury and Illness logs after the site visit along with a report from an RF survey conducted at WCDAS by EME Technology International 2 months (February 28, 2007) after the second incident. This report revealed two measurements that exceeded limits published by IEEE in the C95.1-2005 IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields [IEEE 2005]. One of these measurements was in the waveguide area while the other measurement was taken near the SATAN auxiliary triplexer, an area not routinely accessible to employees. Aside from reports of warmth and "sunburn" on an exposed extremity that had resolved prior to the site visit, no other medical findings were consistent with workplace RF exposures. Current neurological problems reported during confidential employee interviews were not health effects associated with RF exposure and employees' medical records suggested other causes for some of the reported symptoms. Other findings of the site visit included lack of consistent training among the electrical technicians for the repairs they were expected to perform, inconsistent documentation of repairs performed during each shift, and lack of adherence to facility policy for immediate medical evaluations of employees after suspected RF exposure. NIOSH investigators concluded that no evidence exists of ongoing RF overexposure to electrical technicians, but the potential exists for overexposure to RF for employees who work on this equipment without adequate safety training and lack of repair documentation. Recommendations are provided in this report for training employees, conducting monitoring for RF leaks, and prompt medical evaluation after possible RF overexposure.
• Subjects:
  Burns Electromagnetic Phenomena Nervous System Occupational Health Radiation Radio Waves Safety
• Keywords:
  Administration Of General Economic Programs Burn Electromagnetic-energy Electromagnetic-fields Electromagnetic-radiation Electromagnetic Fields EMF Hazard-Unconfirmed Neurological-reactions Neurological-system Neurological Effects Nonionizing-radiation Nonionizing Radiation OSHA Region 3 Radio-waves Radio Frequency Radiation RF

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA200700953063
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; 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:
  24 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Evans, Stefanie M. ; Galloway, Ellen ; Smith, Robin
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034157
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2008]. Health Hazard Evaluation Report: Nonionizing radiation exposure to technicians at a satellite communication facility, Wallops, VA. 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, NIOSH HETA No. 2007-0095-3063,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  926110 - Administration of General Economic Programs - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5f9ccb539e53d2e80f79ac1c2009d7c75cd845a0448921194b941d1c83eae07818c79a38be4ad98e984339f194076303e0eee1e8d21604a067723fa98a979cba
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172572/cdc_172572_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.34 MB ]