Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HHE-80-183-991: Naval Biosciences Laboratory; Oakland, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Elliot, Larry J. ; Jannerfeldt, Eric R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Laboratory procedures and employee work practices were studied at the Naval Biosciences Laboratory (SIC-8071) in Oakland, California, on September 23 to 24, 1980, and on January 18, 1981. An unidentified individual requested the evaluation on behalf of approximately 100 affected workers after several cases of illness were reported subsequent to exposure to human pathogens under study at the laboratory. The physical layout, cleanliness, hoods, and other specialized equipment were found to be in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control guidelines, and appropriate for the handling of hazardous infectious organisms. Questionnaire responses regarding employee training and work practices revealed that adequate laboratory safety training was given to the laboratory technicians but not the facility guard personnel who routinely entered the laboratory rooms. It was also determined that medical surveillance had not included all personnel categories and had not been performed at regular intervals. The authors conclude that guards at this laboratory may have been at increased risk of exposure to infectious organisms. They recommend the adoption of standardized and appropriate medical surveillance policies, consistent hiring policies for lab personnel, employee training, environmental monitoring, and care in the use of formaldehyde (50000) as a disinfecting agent.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE80183991
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:
  11 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00122587
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-187378
• 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, HHE 80-183-991, 1981 November ; 1-11
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8071 - Medical laboratories - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:56bb7d68ec68fb5eed68da5344f6bffa57e7cc0dd72e8984e332068f393c06b240fc3e1976467811b9132c63ccfff1f2a195eb28136482aa2fa3e458080d6090
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173223/cdc_173223_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.62 MB ]