Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-256-1342: Emanuel Hospital; Portland, Oregon

Details

• Personal Author:
  Apol, Arvin G. ; Helgerson, Steven D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  An environmental and medical survey was conducted at Emanuel Hospital (SIC-8062) in Portland, Oregon, on July 15, 1982. The survey was conducted to determine if prostaglandins handled and mixed by pharmacy personnel were the cause of menstrual abnormalities and breast tenderness experienced by workers. The department included 18 female nurses and 5 clerks. The materials were handled and mixed in a horizontal laminar flow hood (HLFH). There is no environmental standard or recommended standard for airborne prostaglandins. A questionnaire was sent to licensed hospital pharmacies in Washington state. HLFH were used extensively among the hospitals surveyed. The authors conclude that it is not likely that exposure to prostaglandins caused the reported symptoms. They recommend discontinuance of use of the HLFH, exhausting vertical hoods to the outside, prohibition of all food consumption in the room, thorough cleaning of spills, and maintenance of a log of any adverse health effects and dates of occurrence for the identification and initiation of control procedures.
• Subjects:
  Hazardous Substances Hospitals Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Employee-exposure Flow Hoods General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Hazards-Unconfirmed HETA-82-256-1342 Horizontal Laminar Menstrual Abnormalities NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 10 Physiological-response Prostaglandins Toxic-effects Vertical Worker-health

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA822561342
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• 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:
  16 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00133558
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-102945
• 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 82-256-1342, 1983 Jul ; :1-13
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:874a087e139013e6d29848a1b8082b5c4a262df1fff770101c551d59e509d17a682a49b63e6194991ba62ebf163da594c4fca0929d875bbb28ebf73f0377281a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172902/cdc_172902_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.87 MB ]