Technical Assistance Report No. TA-80-111-826: Department of Commerce: Washington, D.C.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lee, Stephen A. ; Mullan, Mariquita G.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Increased blood alcohol concentrations among workers at the Washington, D.C. lithographic printing facility (SIC-3573) of the Department of Commerce were evaluated on August 26 and 27, 1980. The evaluation was requested by the United States Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Ocean Survey/Reproduction Division on behalf of 20 employees. Workers were questioned about job related health problems, and general and breathing zone air samples were collected for analysis. Worker exposures to isopropanol (67630), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (71556), xylene (1330207), and ethyl-benzene (100414) were below the respective OSHA 8 hour time weighted average standards of 400, 350, 100, and 100 parts per million. The ventilation system was poorly designed. Fourteen workers reported symptoms associated with cleaning the alcohol press, such as dizziness and nausea. The authors conclude that variations in press operating procedures and poor ventilation caused the occasional symptoms reported by the workers. They recommend redesigning the ventilation system, improving housekeeping procedures, using protective gloves when handling solvents, and reducing the isopropanol concentrations in the fountain solution. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Hematologic Tests Occupational Health Printing Safety Solvents Surveys And Questionnaires Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Alcohols Hazards-Confirmed Health-surveys Hematology Industrial-hygiene NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report OSHA Region 3 Printing-industry TA-80-111-826

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Washington (DC) ; 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:
  18 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Love, John R. ; Woodruff, Jackie
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00114018
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-188178
• 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, TA 80-111-826, 1981 Feb ; :1-11
• CAS Registry Number:
  Isopropyl alcohol (CAS RN 67-63-0) ; 1,1,1-Trichloroethane (CAS RN 71-55-6) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7) ; Ethylbenzene (CAS RN 100-41-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3573 - Electronic Computing Equipment - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b6b14bcc20f7ae5baf970f291a40a23ca62e885ce6347abc866d08ac3a929862fc71d09280d3093adac4b8ef173ee5a403fa6e414d5fbcb17434c22104a265d3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173437/cdc_173437_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 523.96 KB ]