Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-414-1047: A. E. Staley Company; Decatur, Illinois

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boxer, Peter A. ; Moody, Patricia L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The relationship between polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure and adverse health effects at the A. E. Staley Company facility (SIC- 2046) in Decatur, Illinois was investigated. A representative of AIWA Local 837 requested the evaluation which was conducted on August 10 and 11, 1981. An explosion of a PCB transformer had occurred on July 11, 1981. Potential PCB exposure occurred during cleanup operations. Seven of 20 exposed workers and 2 of 12 nonexposed workers reported symptoms that associated with exposure to PCB including eye irritation, rash, fatigue, stomachache, and sweating. The average concentration of PCB in serum of exposed workers was 8.9 parts per billion (ppb). For the nonexposed group, the average was 10.2ppb. Excluding from the nonexposed group those workers who may have previously been exposed to PCB, the average was 5.9ppb. The difference between exposed and nonexposed was not statistically significant. There was a significant linear relationship between serum PCB concentrations and reported duration of exposure during cleanup. The authors conclude that workers did not exhibit signs of PCB intoxication and did not have abnormally high serum PCB values. The authors recommend better cleanup procedures, the use of impervious protective clothing and training in handling emergency situations.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety
• Keywords:
  Employee-exposure Hazards-Unconfirmed HETA-81-414-1047 Medical-examinations NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Organic-chemicals OSHA Region 5 PCB Protective-clothing Protective-equipment Transformer Explosion Wet Corn Milling Work-practices

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA814141047
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  15 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Smallwood, Anthony W.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00127953
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB83-198416
• 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 81-414-1047, 1982 Feb ; :1-13
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2046 - Wet corn milling - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:640bfd460b8310c24ad7f96b15c6a148b6298eaac62f756a9152b1779325c563b3359b652e580162942ffa578d81646301a48f629507958017c9fd94c8330ef6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173015/cdc_173015_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.65 MB ]