Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-80-116-1034: Ferro Corporation; Cleveland, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Albrecht, William N. ; Landrigan, Philip J. ; Watanabe, Arthur S.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental air sampling was conducted, blood specimens collected, and medical surveys performed, to determined employee exposures to lead (7439921) and cadmium (7440439) at the Ferro Corporation (SIC- 2810) in Cleveland, Ohio on May 23 and 24, 1980 and March 16 to 20, 1981. A representative of the United Steelworkers of America, Local 1170, requested the evaluation on behalf of an unspecified number of workers in the Coatings and Color Divisions of the Company. In the Coatings Division, personal exposure to airborne lead ranged from 0 to 359 micrograms per cubic meter, compared with the OSHA standard of 50 micrograms per cubic meter. All cadmium samples taken in the Coatings Division were below the OSHA recommended standard of 200 micrograms per cubic meter. In the Color Division, cadmium exposures ranged from 0 to 384 micrograms per cubic meter. Twenty three of 109 workers tested had blood lead concentrations of 40 micrograms per deciliter or above. Smelter operators in the Coatings Division had the highest blood lead concentrations. Twenty-one workers had blood cadmium concentrations of 0.7 micrograms per deciliter or above. Blood urea nitrogen concentrations were elevated in 18 of 109 workers, serum creatinine concentrations were elevated in 8 workers, and serum uric acid concentrations were elevated in 12 workers. Thirty-five workers had one or more abnormal kidney function test results. Three workers with a history of exposure to silica dust had chest radiographs with evidence of mild pneumoconiosis. The authors conclude that health hazards existed at this facility as a result of excessive exposures to airborne lead, cadmium, and silica dust. They recommend the establishment of an industrial health program, reduction of lead and cadmium exposures, several engineering control measures, medical follow up of affected workers, and medical screening.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA801161034
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  23 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Stephenson, Richard L. ; DeArmond, Larry W. ; Kern, Michael ; Schutte, Robert ; Conrad, Fran ; Lee, Shiu
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00123436
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-196833
• 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 80-116-1034, 1982 January ; 1-23
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1) ; Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  281 - Industrial Inorganic Chemicals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2a05c32b590fa472ce4d7d92430f6ddb34a938ade7af959115d01aa176ce81ccecc730899a7a879fc2632ed2ccdeecc77d1b29d113608d435b1709cc8e9243ac
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173187/cdc_173187_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.22 MB ]