Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-285-1339: Plastifax Company Explosion Site; Gulfport, Mississippi

Details

• Personal Author:
  Aw, Tar-Ching ; Fox, Steven H. ; Roper, C. Paul
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A medical and epidemiological survey was conducted among persons who were in the vicinity of an explosion and fire at the Plastifax Company (SIC-2899) in Gulfport, Mississippi on June 2, 1982. The explosion occurred during the nitration of 2-ethyl-hexanol (104767) to 2-ethyl-hexyl-nitrate (27247967). Three workers were killed, and nine others injured. Various chemicals were released into the environment. Questionnaires were given to 44 rescue workers, 25 workers in adjacent factories, and 47 residents of a nearby trailer park. Twenty of the rescue workers reported using respiratory protection. No significant difference in hospitalization rates was seen in the rescue workers using respiratory protection and those that did not. Fifteen of the rescue workers without respiratory protection reported cough, headache, and eye irritation symptoms that lasted more than 1 day. Twelve of the workers in the adjacent factories and 25 of the trailer park residents reported symptoms that included eye irritation, sore throat, and cough. It was noted that the respiratory equipment of some of the rescue workers ran out of air. The authors recommend that an adequate supply of fresh air be provided to rescue workers, and better supervision of potentially explosive chemical processes be maintained.
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Explosions Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  2-Ethyl Hexyl Nitrate Chemical Emergency Response Exposure-levels Hazard-Unconfirmed HETA-82-285-1339 Miscellaneous Chemical Products NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitration Reactions OSHA Region 4 Respiratory-protective-equipment Respiratory-system-disorders

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA822851339
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Mississippi ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  21 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Berkely, Martin R.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00133722
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-100899
• 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 82-285-1339, 1983 Jul ; :1-19
• CAS Registry Number:
  2-Ethylhexanol (CAS RN 104-76-7) ; 2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (CAS RN 27247-96-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2899 - Chemical preparations, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:765e9fc8594c222862872e298a081c06ae7f747e72117040c7d3bbf3d19670f4a245bcc1a602b6a3afaadbc94ed4991c671cb036a6118f7a96421e321fdf14dd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172897/cdc_172897_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.24 MB ]