Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HHE-80-160-897: Emery Industries, Inc.; Los Angeles, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Apol, Arvin G. ; Thoburn, Theodore W.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental and breathing zone samples were analyzed for lauric- acid (143077) at Emery Industries, Incorporated (SIC-2869) in Los Angeles, California on August 20 and November 12 and 13, 1980. A representative of the International Chemical Workers Union, Local 11, requested the evaluation on behalf of seven workers in the flaking and bagging operations area. Breathing zone and area airborne total particulate concentrations ranged from 0.04 to 0.56 milligram per cubic meter (mg/cu m). Lauric-acid exposures to the bagger operators ranged from 0.11 to 0.56mg/cu m. There is no current standard for lauric-acid exposure. Medical interviews indicated that lauric-acid was irritating to the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, and occasionally caused breathing difficulties. No significant decreases in pulmonary function were found over the shift for the six warehouse workers tested. The authors conclude that the workers were suffering from local irritation of moist body surfaces from exposure to lauric-acid. They recommend ventilation modifications to reduce lauric-acid exposure, use of respirators when appropriate, good personal hygiene practices, covering of the remelt tank, and regulation of the lauric-acid temperature in the remelt tank.
• Subjects:
  Occupational Health Safety Skin
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE80160897
• 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:
  12 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00119099
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-256942
• 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 80-160-897, 1981 June ; 1-12
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lauric Acid (CAS RN 143-07-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2869 - Industrial organic chemicals, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4bfbaf28098558cc49d2d8d15949ee34c22ba524043c9d4446dac20af00bb820574a53a9951afc0a8a8a3ebd99034c1696e95bd88a7ff2135d75c1bc4ad5448d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173276/cdc_173276_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.91 MB ]