Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-83-063-1364: Louis A. Johnson Medical Center; Clarksburg, West Virginia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Piacitelli, Laurie A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposures to laboratory chemicals were investigated on November 11, 1982 at the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center Histology Laboratory in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The evaluation was requested by the hospital's Engineering Services Department on behalf of an unspecified number of histology laboratory technicians. Personal and area air samples were collected and analyzed for xylene (1330207), ethanol (64175), and formaldehyde (50000). Personal breathing zone concentrations of xylene ranged from 2.3 to 9.8 parts per million (ppm), well below the OSHA standard of 100ppm. Area air xylene concentrations ranged from 2.1 to 17.3ppm, also well below the 100ppm OSHA standard. Formaldehyde concentrations were below the 0.5 to 10ppm analytical limit of detection. Concentrations of ethanol were below the 100ppm analytical limit of detection. The author concludes that no hazards exist from exposures to xylene, ethanol or formaldehyde. He recommends the use of protective gloves made of milled nitrile when there is a possibility of skin contact with any of the chemicals. Medical examinations should be provided for workers who complain of headache, nausea, or gastrointestinal disturbances. Employees should be educated about toxic chemical hazards. The noise generated by the exhaust system should be reduced.
• Subjects:
  Dust Environmental Exposure Hazardous Substances Hospitals Laboratories Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Environmental-exposure Ethanol Formalin Hazards-Unconfirmed Health-hazards HETA-83-063-1364 Histology Laboratory Hospital-equipment Industrial-exposures Laboratory-work NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure Safety-research Xylene

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA830631364
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West 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:
  8 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00134126
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-163442
• 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 83-063-1364, 1983 Sep ; :1-6
• CAS Registry Number:
  Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7) ; Ethanol (CAS RN 64-17-5) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Editor(s):
  Stanley, Ann
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• 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-512:0ee11b8aabf512d4464aabd40750514b36ed6eda803ba7b80ef98e423175d003062cd1077f00f1df423968594c5596cc9cc812accee1b946867540eb6d6d6e53
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172891/cdc_172891_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.30 MB ]