Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-82-372-1220: Indian Brook Elementary School; Plymouth, Massachusetts

Details

• Personal Author:
  McManus, Kevin P.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposures to methyl-alcohol (67561) from the use of spirit duplicators were investigated on September 30, 1982, at the Indian Brook Elementary School (SIC-8211) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The survey was requested by the Plymouth School Committee on behalf of an unspecified number of teachers and staff. Breathing zone and general area air samples were collected in the teachers' lounge while the two duplicator machines were operating. Air flow was also measured. Breathing zone samples contained more than 3000 parts per million (ppm) methyl-alcohol after 35 copies were run. After 3 minutes of duplicator operation, general air samples contained about 500ppm. The NIOSH exposure standard is 800ppm for a 15-minute period. The ventilation system did not provide sufficient fresh air flow. The author concludes that hazardous methyl-alcohol exposure exists after only 4 minutes of duplicator operation. Handling of fresh copies can add to exposure via skin absorption. The author recommends improved ventilation, and a drying of copies before they are handled.
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Schools Solvents
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Elementary And Secondary Schools Employee-exposure Hazards-Confirmed HETA-82-372-1220 Indoor Air Pollution Methyl Alcohol NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Office-workers OSHA Region 1 Spirit Duplicators 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/NIOSHHETA823721220
• 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:
  13 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00127556
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-172501
• 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 82-372-1220, 1982 Nov ; :1-11
• CAS Registry Number:
  Methanol (CAS RN 67-56-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8211 - Elementary and secondary schools - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:12df1d78f24b9eb28b1b19243e30482dc6ee29240d4b409b7a57dfaaaf878ef1eca0ddd7e86480685a44b30381095a800c4fc2d3faaaf90a29f2d59c1b58cbee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173097/cdc_173097_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.18 MB ]