Health Hazard Evaluation Report HE 80-56-743: St. Anthony's Hospital: Denver, Colorado

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J. ; Watanabe, Arthur S. ; Gunter, Bobby J. ; Watanabe, Arthur S.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental and epidemiological surveys were conducted on March 11 and 12, 1980, to evaluate potential overexposures of nitrous-oxide (10024972), ethrane (13838169), and halothane (151677) in the Department of Surgery at St. Anthony's Hospital (SIC-8070) in Denver, Colorado. The evaluation was requested by the employees on behalf of the approximately 92 affected employees. Ethrane concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 1.6 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the NIOSH standard of 0.5 ppm
  
  halothane ranged from 0.01 to 0.4 ppm, below the NIOSH standard of 0.5 ppm
  
  and nitrous oxide ranged from 5 to 128 ppm, exceeding the NIOSH standard of 25 ppm. Twenty five operating room personnel and 15 recovery room workers reported one or more acute symptoms. Recovery room workers commonly reported headache, light headedness, dizziness, and fatigue. Thirteen operating room females reported menstrual irregularities, while no such problems were reported by recovery room females. Five operating room workers reported kidney or liver disease histories
  
  four reported disease histories were found among recovery room workers. The author concludes that a health hazard existed in the operating rooms from exposures to ethrane and nitrous oxide. He recommends that all workers have annual physical examinations, that any worker experiencing skin irritation associated use of iodine disinfectant use an alternative disinfecting agent, that high pressure nitrous oxide connections be checked periodically, and that air monitoring be continued. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anesthesia Enflurane Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Fatigue Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Anesthesiologist Anesthetics Ethrane Halothane Hazard-Unconfirmed Health-care-facilities Health-surveys HHE-80-56-743 Medical-monitoring Medical-personnel NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation Nitrous Oxide OSHA Region 8

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)   ; Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)  
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE8056743
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Denver (CO) ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  22 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Pryor, Paul D. ; Belanger, Pierre L. ; Schulenberg, Marilyn K.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00103571
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB81-170805
• 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 80-56-743, 1980 Sep ; :1-21
• CAS Registry Number:
  Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Ethrane (CAS RN 13838-16-9) ; Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2) ; Ethrane (CAS RN 13838-16-9) ; Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1980
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8062 - General medical & surgical hospitals - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:caf9343de297455bbc8359c524d4ae12b4b97c67feb7b24245db9203cbfae5c59858302ff830dcb0514b9218a87718b1720431ffbb2b493ca9dfbf62815bce4d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173504/cdc_173504_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.56 MB ]