Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-280-1042: Harlem Hospital Center; New York City, New York

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baker, Dean B. ; Fannick, Nicholas L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental conditions at Harlem Hospital Center (SIC-8062), New York City, New York were evaluated. The study was requested by representatives of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and was performed on April 27, 1981. The request stemmed from an incident in which 58 workers in the eighth floor laboratory became ill. Blood tests had indicated that 26 individuals had hypoxia. Symptoms improved upon removal from the laboratory environment. Surveys were conducted to determine exposure to organic solvents, chlorine, vinyl-chloride, sulfur-dioxide, oxygen, formaldehyde, hydrogen-sulfide, and mercury vapor. No contaminants were detected except for low concentrations of airborne xylene and ethyl-benzene. The authors conclude that no excessive exposure to any environmental contaminant was found in the laboratory at the time of the survey. The incident appears to have been transient and has not recurred. Recommendations regarding the maintenance of the ventilation and Somat system, the waste acid tanks, fume hoods and drains are provided.
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Hospitals Hydrogen Sulfide Laboratories Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Solvents Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Formaldehyde General Medical And Surgical Hospitals Hazards-Unconfirmed HETA-81-280-1042 Hydrogen Sulfide Indoor Air Pollution Laboratories Laboratory-workers NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational-exposure Organic Vapors Region 2 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/NIOSHHETA812801042
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• 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:
  14 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00127683
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB83-201459
• 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 81-280-1042, 1982 Feb ; :1-11
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• 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:df8bf811386a5b9698c4dc205cd648b34c538417ff5bbaf2e7c2663055adae59e166b478063d67db24b7ba1daaa883a14779341bab8a9fe24a548cb443a341c0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173053/cdc_173053_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.63 MB ]