Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-80-0336-1344: Baltimore County Police Department; Towson, Maryland

Details

• Personal Author:
  Schilling R ; Jannerfeldt, Eric ; Lewis FA
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  An examination of employee health records was conducted in areas of the Baltimore County Police Department Crime Laboratory (SIC-9221) in Baltimore, Maryland in September and November of 1980. The request was received from a representative of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on behalf of about seven employees of the crime laboratory. There were seven cancer related deaths among crime laboratory personnel between 1968 to 1981 (age range from 26 to 61 years). Three deaths occurred in persons under 40. Personal breathing zone air samples were taken during a fingerprint dusting operation to determine carbon-black (124389) concentrations. Analysis of the fingerprint powders showed that they contained fluoranthene (206440), pyrene (129000), and other polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. Breathing zone samples were well within recommended standards for carbon-black containing polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The authors conclude that while there is a statistically significant excess of large intestine cancer among police officers in general, there was a nonsignificant excess of respiratory cancers in these crime laboratory workers. There is a potential health hazard in the use of fingerprint powders that contain polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. A laboratory hood or respirator should be used when doing fingerprint dusting.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Employee-exposure Hazards-Confirmed HETA-80-0336-1344 Mortality-data NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Pathogenesis
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; 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:
  1-11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00134355
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-102911
• 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 80-0336-1344, 1983 Jul; :1-11
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9) ; Fluoranthene (CAS RN 206-44-0) ; Pyrene (CAS RN 129-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  9221 - Police protection - (SIC 1987)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e08d4af2d2b3cdca83cc6b876e672fd8b6f28945c6131e46c8702c3d870853aff52b6f5ed92257185e970d6e8b4dd8248741b89715c3e12a3d5cb4ebb779d162
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172862/cdc_172862_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 583.27 KB ]