Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-80-168-1204: Rola-Esmark Company; Dubois, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lee, Stephen A. ; Parkinson, David K.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Health complaints among workers exposed to organic vapors during manufacture of stereo speakers at the Rola-Esmark Company (SIC-3651) DuBois, Pennsylvania, were investigated. The survey was requested by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and was performed on July 29 to 30, 1980. At the time of the study 140 production workers were employed. Thirty personal breathing zone air samples were taken to measure organic vapor contaminants, and one breathing zone and six area air samples were measured for benzoyl-peroxide (94360) exposure. Medical interviews were conducted for exposed employees. The highest organic vapor exposure was 8.0 parts per million (ppm) of trichloroethylene (79016) compared to a NIOSH recommended standard of 25ppm. Benzoyl-peroxide exposures were well below the NIOSH criteria of 5 milligrams per cubic meter. More than 50 percent of the workers, 19 to 20 of which were women, reported severe headaches, dizziness, balance problems, tremor, fatigue, and depression. The authors conclude that although exposures were well below environmental criteria, there was a high correlation of symptoms with solvent exposures.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA801681204
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; 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:
  29 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Nutter, Mark ; Schneider, Scott ; Brewer, Arthelia
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00127129
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB84-172873
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 80-168-1204, 1982 October ; :1-29
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzoyl peroxide (CAS RN 94-36-0) ; Trichloroethylene (CAS RN 79-01-6)
• Editor(s):
  Woodruff, Jackie
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3651 - Household audio and video equipment - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b456acba958c5e97cc327c0a27cea8fa2cdc8f7d2f100ecbc78cd24b8cbed5c2d6e795b42021ada7b7f86f75d57698cc5e6569ad141879d9265bcc6dd894aca0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173141/cdc_173141_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.81 MB ]