Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-422-1387: California Society for Histotechnology; Los Angeles, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Belanger, Pierre L. ; Killburn, Kaye H.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposure to histology chemicals was investigated in October and November 1981 and May, June, and September 1982 at 13 histology laboratories (SIC-0807) in the Los Angeles, California area. The evaluation was requested by the President of the California Society for Histotechnology on behalf of technicians reporting various respiratory and behavior symptoms they associated with workplace exposures. Medical questionnaires were administered to 94 technicians and 25 completed pulmonary function tests, neurobehavioral function tests and dermatologic examinations. Environmental samples were collected for formaldehyde (50000), chloroform (67663), xylene (1330207), and toluene (108883). The technicians reported a significant frequency of symptoms such as chest tightness, coughing, eye and throat irritation, headache, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, and skin irritations. These symptoms increased with age and duration of exposure and were related to work periods. Concentrations of xylene and toluene were below respective OSHA limits of 300 and 500 parts per million (ppm). Formaldehyde concentrations ranged from 0 to 1.9ppm, below the OSHA limit of 2ppm but above the NIOSH recommendation of lowest feasible limit. Concentrations of chloroform ranged from 2.7 to 19.1ppm for a 60-minute ceiling, above the NIOSH limit of 2ppm
  
  no OSHA standard was given for chloroform. The authors conclude that health hazards exist from formaldehyde and chloroform. They recommend increased use of exhaust ventilation, use of respiratory protection, and periodic environmental monitoring.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Hazardous Substances Health Personnel Laboratories Occupational Health Safety Skin
• Keywords:
  Chloroform Formaldehyde Hazards-Confirmed HETA-81-422-1387 Histology Labs Medical-personnel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 9 Pathology Labs Skin-irritants Toluene Toxic-vapors Xylene

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA814221387
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:
  49 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Okawa, Melvin T. ; Iwanaga, Doug G. ; Seidman, Brenda
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00137474
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-179273
• 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 81-422-1387, 1983 Nov ; :1-47
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Chloroform (CAS RN 67-66-3) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3)
• Editor(s):
  Luciano, Nancy A.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1984
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8071 - Medical laboratories - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8543c4cb4da369e53a45b254e09016163a6a4fc9874ee6f9e21fc51ffb3c61e49065f5f8364cbba0017267a20b7c2d60a4f51ed7a4069a84dc95b62ce73aab6b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172822/cdc_172822_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.45 MB ]