Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-83-047-1295: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Denver, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J. ; Thoburn, Theodore W.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Exposures to xylene (1330207), ethyl-alcohol (64175), and formaldehyde (50000) were evaluated in the Histology and Cytology Departments, University of Colorado (SIC-8221), Denver, Colorado, in December 1982. The request came from the Health Sciences Center. Ten persons worked in the two departments. Breathing zone air samples were collected and analyzed. Formaldehyde samples were also collected. Employees were interviewed and blood counts were taken. Concentrations for xylene ranged from less than 0.01 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) to 58.0mg/m3 (NIOSH criteria: 435mg/m3). Ethyl- alcohol concentrations ranged from less than 0.01mg/m3 to 250mg/m3, which was well below NIOSH criteria. Detectable concentrations of formaldehyde were measured on all but 3 of 13 samples. Specific concentrations were not reported because of sampling difficulties. Nine workers reported occasional work-related headaches, and half had skin problems related to solvent exposure. Four had slight elevations of lactate-dehydrogenase which was weakly correlated with their time weighted average m-xylene (108383) exposure. The investigators conclude that a health hazard from formaldehyde exposure did exist at the time of the survey in the tissue processing room. There were also medical problems due to mixed solvent exposure by inhalation and dermal contacts. They recommend routine medical examinations and installation of increased ventilation.
• Subjects:
  Dermatitis Formaldehyde Headache Occupational Health Safety Skin Xylenes
• Keywords:
  Breathing-atmospheres Clinical-symptoms Colleges, Universities, And Professional Schools Ethyl Alcohol Exposure-levels Hazards-Confirmed Headaches HETA-83-047-1295 Histology And Cytology Laboratories Liver Function Tests NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 8 Xylene

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA830471295
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• 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:
  23 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Sollenberg, Jan ; Lowry, Larry K. ; Pryor, Paul D.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00134710
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-209626
• 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 83-047-1295, 1983 May ; :1-21
• CAS Registry Number:
  Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7) ; Ethanol (CAS RN 64-17-5) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; m-Xylene (CAS RN 108-38-3)
• Editor(s):
  Schulenberg, Marilyn K.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8221 - Colleges and universities - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fc22e4237b4156334a3f928f72b04e147b8cd47641e0c3b10957e6d31d31fdb5abfdf8bbca0efddae05da785b9cb03793956e4fb72392236b154495c1560e78f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172842/cdc_172842_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 9.30 MB ]