Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-209-1245: Children's Hospital Medical Center; Boston, Massachusetts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gorman, Richard W. ; McManus, Kevin P. ; Singal, Mitchell ; Straub, Wesley E.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposures to waste anesthetic gases and reports of illness were investigated on May 12 and 13, 1982 at Children's Hospital Medical Center (SIC-8069) in Boston, Massachusetts. The evaluation was requested by an authorized employee representative on behalf of an unspecified number of operating room personnel who had complained of eye irritation, conjunctivitis, and sore throat. General and personal area air samples were analyzed for nitrous oxide (10024972)
  
  personal air samples were analyzed for halothane (151677)
  
  and bulk area samples were tested for organic chemicals. Nitrous-oxide concentrations in excess of the NIOSH limit of 25 parts per million (ppm) were found in 13 of 25 personal air samples. Two of four personal samples had halothane concentrations greater than the NIOSH limit of 0.5ppm (for halothane used together with nitrous oxide). Several organic chemicals were found in bulk samples, but concentrations were not considered significant. The author concludes that about half the operating room staff were exposed to excess amounts of waste anesthetic gases, but these exposures probably did not cause the reported outbreak of conjunctivitis. He recommends repair and adjustment of the scavenging system, and use of careful anesthetic administration techniques.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anesthesia Halothane Hospitals Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Anesthesiology Conjunctivitis Hazards-Confirmed HETA-82-209-1245 Hospital Hospital-equipment NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitrous Oxide Occupational-exposure OSHA Region 1 Pediatric Specialty Hospitals, Except Psychiatric Waste Anesthetic Gases

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA822091245
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:00127584
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-173863
• 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 82-209-1245, 1983 Feb ; :1-2
• CAS Registry Number:
  Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7)
• Editor(s):
  Louse, Marylou
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8069 - Specialty hospitals except psychiatric - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fa644311c42d95c0b101dfabd932350d32f72e99adffac35384f2f6978ce185306c00037d71d6a8390665bcc09ad680c4e7705663ac4c22776275f5dd1cb7bab
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173069/cdc_173069_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.04 MB ]