Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-83-266-1391: McCourt Label Company; Bradford, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ruhe, Raymond L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposures to various solvents were surveyed on July 12 and 13, 1983 at the McCourt Label Company (SIC-2751) in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The evaluation was requested by the company's personnel manager on behalf of 50 production employees. Personal and area air samples were collected for perchloroethylene (127184) (PCE), butyl-alcohol (71363), isopropyl-alcohol (67630), and 2- ethoxyethanol (110805). No butyl-alcohol was detected. Concentrations of isopropyl alcohol ranged from 4 to 148 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) for an 8-hour time weighted average (TWA), compared to the NIOSH TWA of 984mg/m3 with a 15-minute ceiling of 1968mg/m3. Concentrations of 2-ethoxyethanol ranged from undetectable to 17mg/m3, compared to the OSHA standard of 740mg/m3. For PCE, concentrations were between 2 and 29mg/m3 TWA. The OSHA limit for PCE is 678mg/m3 TWA, but NIOSH recommends that exposures be kept to the lowest feasible limit because of its potential carcinogenicity. The author concludes that a potential health hazard from PCE exposure exists at this facility. He recommends regular servicing of local exhaust ventilation systems, institution of an employee chemical hazard education program, labeling of chemical containers, adherence to good personal hygiene practices, and improvement of workplace housekeeping practices, especially in the press room.
• Subjects:
  Dust Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Printing Safety
• Keywords:
  2-ethoxyethanol Butyl Alcohol Employee-exposure Hazards-Confirmed HETA-83-266-1391 Industrial-chemicals Isopropyl Alcohol NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Printing-industry Toxic-vapors

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA832661391
• 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:
  14 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00137711
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-181261
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 83-266-1391, 1983 Nov ; :1-12
• CAS Registry Number:
  Perchloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4) ; n-Butanol (CAS RN 71-36-3) ; Isopropyl alcohol (CAS RN 67-63-0) ; 2-Ethoxyethanol (CAS RN 110-80-5)
• Editor(s):
  Williams, Betty C.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1984
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2751 - Commercial Printing, Letterpress - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5adcaf785353e00940174613cf7a534a52718bd54f26a0a792060c8aada247ce91479d5d83175935cf609ec8f6c53363c2390d61d976991db6b589bd8706efb7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172810/cdc_172810_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.13 MB ]