Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-81-291-1030: U.S. Customs Service, Department of Treasury; New Orleans, Louisiana

Details

• Personal Author:
  Deubner, David C. ; Gold, Avram ; Williams, Ted M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The incidence of cancer among laboratory workers at the Department of the Treasury, United States Customs Laboratory (SIC-2800) in New Orleans, Louisiana was investigated on June 25 to 26, 1981. A representative of the United States Customs Service requested the evaluation after several laboratory workers developed cancer. Laboratory procedures were reviewed and commonly used chemicals identified. The laboratory was typical of a general chemical laboratory. Numerous chemicals, both reagents and samples were used and many of those were on the Environmental Protection Agency's tentative list of carcinogens. Interviews with laboratory personnel indicated unvented use of benzene (71432). Review of hospital records verified three cases of leukemia, one case of Hodgkins' disease, and two cases of prostate cancer. The authors conclude that while no excessive exposures were found at the worksite, a health hazard could have existed in the past due to chemical exposures. They recommend that employees who worked in the laboratory prior to 1980 receive standard hematology blood sample analyses annually and that known or suspected carcinogens should be used in ventilated hoods and stored in ventilated cabinets.
• Subjects:
  Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA812911030
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• 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:
  15 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Bishop, Carolyn C. ; Soignet, Donald M.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00123662
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-194655
• 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 81-291-1030, 1982 January ; 1-15
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2)
• Editor(s):
  Hooker, Pamela
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Performing Organization:
  Occupational Health Studies Group, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  28 - Chemicals and Allied Products - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c7b122e8fe519694b47fa6e99bc5c8d7f7d2be3d29c249a016f532d2e08dc0c7dcfe531867e9cd3e7ba9a1066939015d9571fe76ed132cb3a8d511dc48e2e86a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173164/cdc_173164_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.44 MB ]