Health Hazard Evaluation Report HE 80-204-794: Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co.: Washington, D.C.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lee, Stephen A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Worker exposures to a refined petroleum solvent, Soltrol-170, were surveyed on August 26, 1980 at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company (SIC-4811) in Washington, D.C. The evaluation was requested by the employees after five workers developed skin problems after contact with the cable degreasing solvent. At the time of the evaluation, the company had suspended use of the solvent and had proposed new guidelines for its use. NIOSH investigators conducted simulated degreasing operations under the proposed guidelines, and collected personal and area air samples. The five affected workers were interviewed a few weeks later. The solvent contained a mixture of highly branched and thoroughly saturated 13-14 carbon aliphatic compounds. Personal breathing zone samples contained no detectable amounts of solvent. One area air sample contained about 20 milligrams of solvent per cubic meter. The OSHA standard for Stoddard solvents is 2,950 milligrams per cubic meter as a time weighted average concentration. Only two of the five cases of skin problems were possibly related to solvent exposure. The authors conclude that skin problems due to the degreasing solvent may have occurred under the original conditions of use, however the proposed use guidelines, which include the use of protective gloves and application with a damp cloth rather than spraying, appear adequate to prevent further problems. They suggest that all solvent degreasing operations be done outside the manholes and that NIOSH guidelines for working in confined spaces be followed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Skin Skin Diseases Solvents Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Cable Splicing Technicians Confined Spaces Degreasing Solvents Hazards-Unconfirmed Health-surveys HHE-80-204-794 Kerosene NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation OSHA Region 3 Refined Petroleum Solvents Skin-disorders Soltrol 170 Telephone Communication Worker-health

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE80204794
• 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:
  10 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Mullan, Mariquita G. ; Maskulka, Cheryl
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00114008
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-190000
• 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 80-204-794, 1981 Jan ; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  4811 - Telephone Communication - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:98614ffa8a49274012c3d91c995871617bf779005076a38b9f23ceab441570707b39f24109be9327cdb64250ae6db8de0187b742d8b240e17d47d10ecbf8d2a0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173447/cdc_173447_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.52 MB ]