Technical Assistance Report No. TA-78-33: William T. Burnett Company: Baltimore, Maryland

Details

• Personal Author:
  Keogh, James P. ; White, Gary L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Urinary and neurological disorders among workers at the William T. Burnett Company (SIC-2824) in Baltimore, Maryland, were investigated from April 7 to May 5, 1978. The investigation was requested by the Assistant Secretary of Labor, OSHA, after workers reported various urinary and neurological symptoms. Medical questionnaires revealed widespread cases of urinary retention among workers. Skin problems and visual disorders were also prevalent among workers. Weakness and paresthesia were also reported by several workers, as were cases of sexual dysfunction. Environmental sampling revealed the presence of toluene-diisocyanate (584849) (TDI), N-ethylmorpholine (100743), dimethyl-piperazine (106581), formaldehyde (50000), propionaldehyde (123386), cyclopentanone (120923), methylene- chloride (75092), N-methyl-morpholine (109024), and acetone (67641). TDI concentrations ranged from 0.009 to 0.206 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/CuM), compared with the OSHA standard of 0.14mg/CuM. All other sampled substances were below their respective exposure criteria or were in trace amounts. The author concludes that the reports of employee urological and neurological disorders, and possibly the sexual dysfunctions, resulted from exposure to the recently introduced NIA-catalyst-ESN, a mixture of dimethylamino- propionitrile (1738256), and bis(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl)ether (3033623). Other health problems noted during the survey, including skin, eye, and respiratory symptoms may have resulted from other occupational exposures, but were not of primary consideration in the present survey. The author recommends strict personal hygiene and adherence to good work practices, development of a health and safety program, maintenance of toxicity data for all substances used, periodic medical monitoring of workers, and ventilation modifications to reduce employee exposures to chemicals.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; 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:
  57 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Costello, Richard J. ; Price, James P. ; Love, John ; Thoburn, Theodore W. ; Allen, Elizabeth ; Wertheimer, Debra ; Burton, John ; Fine, Matthew ; Nissim, Jack ; Paxton, Gary ; Schafer, Edward ; Chatham, Frank ; Freedman, Franca ; Kent, Surry ; Reath, Geri ; Bietila, Susan ; Molinaro, John ; Loden, Vicki ; Milton, Donald ; Grote, Ardith A. ; Ball, Spencer ; Lebrizzi, Joe ; Perry, Carole ; Dorsey, Christine ; Delmage, Robert M. ; Sollers, Joseph ; Haden, Etta ; Wilson, Anthony ; Moreland, Rebecca ; Pestronk, Allan
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00124522
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-196049
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, TA 78-33, 1978 November ; 1-57
• CAS Registry Number:
  2,4-Toluene diisocyanate (CAS RN 584-84-9) ; N-Ethylmorpholine (CAS RN 100-74-3) ; 1,4-Dimethylpiperazine (CAS RN 106-58-1) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Propionaldehyde (CAS RN 123-38-6) ; Cyclopentanone (CAS RN 120-92-3) ; Methylene chloride (CAS RN 75-09-2) ; 4-Methylmorpholine (CAS RN 109-02-4) ; Acetone (CAS RN 67-64-1) ; 3-(Dimethylamino)-propanenitrile (CAS RN 1738-25-6) ; Bis(2-dimethylaminoethyl) ether (CAS RN 3033-62-3)
• Editor(s):
  Holthause, Marie A.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1979
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2824 - Organic fibers, noncellulosic - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7ab95d3cf58e71ba3151bde757faac2a1077459212bc633e003f5b2b723ff56d995714a05c88572e6320411f9c715a4e7da95e66c639fdb2f65cf25ac6043e19
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173157/cdc_173157_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.01 MB ]