Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-315-1320: Wilmington Chemical Corporation; Wilmington, Delaware

Details

• Personal Author:
  Liss, Gary M. ; Ruhe, Raymond L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental and breathing zone samples were analyzed for methylene- bis-4-cyclohexyl-isocyanate (66368965) (HMDI), toluene (108883), epichlorohydrin (106898), n-butyl-glycidyl-ether (2426086) (BGE), and xylene (1330207) at the Wilmington Chemical Company (SIC-2860), Wilmington, Delaware in September and December 1982. The request was made by Local l, United Food and Commercial Workers to evaluate employee exposure. Blood and urine samples were obtained from 32 hourly employees. Fifteen salaried employees were used as a comparison group. Airborne concentrations of epichlorohydrin and BGE were below the detection limits. Airborne concentrations of toluene ranged from 4.4 to 210 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3)
  
  the NIOSH standard is 375mg/m3. Airborne concentrations of xylene and HMDI were 96mg/m3 and 0.05mg/m3, respectively
  
  the respective NIOSH standards are 435mg/m3 and 0.055mg/m3. Gastrointestinal symptoms, nervous system symptoms, mucous membrane irritations, skin disorders, and liver function abnormalities were significantly higher in the hourly workers than in the salaried employees. Although the measured airborne concentrations were low, the authors conclude that the symptoms and abnormalities could be occupationally related. Improved ventilation and storage procedures are recommended.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Blood Hematologic Tests Isocyanates Occupational Health Safety Toluene Urine Xylenes
• Keywords:
  Blood-analysis Clinical-symptoms Epichlorohydrin Glycidyl Ethers Hazard-Confirmed HETA-82-315-1320 Hydrogenated Methylene-bis-4-cyclohexyl Isocyanate Industrial Organic Chemicals Liver Disease NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Urinalysis Worker-health Xylene

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA823151320
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Delaware ; 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:
  34 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Kominsky, John ; Sayvetz, Tom ; Lowry, Larry K. ; Phipps, Frederick C.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00133447
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB85-101293
• 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 82-315-1320, 1983 Jun ; :1-32
• CAS Registry Number:
  Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Epichlorohydrin (CAS RN 106-89-8) ; n-Butyl glycidyl ether (CAS RN 2426-08-6) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Editor(s):
  Pasley, Gloria
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  286 - Industrial Organic Chemicals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:845c59ae7857d370523b34cbb891bb2195207edcc78345846e1732512ef2b8be0b82477a6f00e6a9d2dc4be884bd521ed07950a4a5825bcde3922f3e2363ccd5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172909/cdc_172909_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.64 MB ]