Health Hazard Evaluation Report HHE 80-49-808: Superior Tube Company; Collegeville, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ruhe, Raymond L. ; Stein, Gary F. ; Watanabe, Arthur S.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental samples and urine and blood specimens were analyzed, and work practices and working conditions were reviewed at the Superior Tube Company, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, on February 5 to 7 and May 14 to 16, 1980, to determine employee exposures to toxic concentrations of trichloroethylene (79016) (TCE), methylene-chloride (75092), and acetone (67641) during degreasing. A representative of the United Steelworkers of America, Local 6816, requested the evaluation for an unspecified number of workers. During the first visit, the mean time weighted average (TWA) TCE exposure at one degreaser was 205 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/Cu m) of air, with short term peak exposure up to 2,000mg/Cu m. TCE concentrations at other degreasers ranged from nondetectable to 125mg/Cu m with the OSHA 8 hour TWA for TCE of 535mg/Cu m. TCE metabolites in the urine of nine exposed workers with acute TCE symptoms increased from 297.5 milligrams per liter (mg/liter) preshift to 479.9mg/liter postshift. Concentrations of methylene-chloride and acetone were well below the OSHA 8 hour TWAs of 1,700 and 2,400mg/Cu m, respectively. During the second visit after improving ventilation, vapor concentrations in 4 of 18 short term samples still exceeded 535mg/Cu m. TCE urinary metabolites were reduced, and some workers still had symptoms of acute TCE toxicity. The investigators concluded that the health hazards due to TCE exposure have been significantly reduced. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Acetone Blood Environmental Monitoring Fatigue Hematologic Tests Methylene Chloride Occupational Health Safety Skin Solvents Surveys And Questionnaires Urine Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Blood-sampling Hazards-Unconfirmed Health-surveys HHE-80-49-808 NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation Organic-solvents OSHA Region 3 Trichloroethylene Urinalysis

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE8049808
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; Collegeville (PA) ; 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:
  17 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Kominsky, John R. ; Maskulka, Cheryl
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00114548
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-232299
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HHE 80-49-808, 1981 Jan ; :1-15
• CAS Registry Number:
  Trichloroethylene (CAS RN 79-01-6) ; Methylene chloride (CAS RN 75-09-2) ; Acetone (CAS RN 67-64-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3317 - Steel pipe and tubes - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3c1028e0726285b51adb8dad82b552bf0bbc1529d675e3823ac02ebdfdd38a49ffb21e8ad9d65d91d35464046d8f2903555b535d89443439e90a63815e2e6af6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173399/cdc_173399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.38 MB ]