Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report HE 78-49-553: National Steel Drum Company: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burroughs, G. Edward ; Salg, Joyce A.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Personal and area environmental samples were analyzed for iron-oxide (1309371), total particulate, hydrochloric-acid (7647010), sodium- hydroxide (1310732), benzene (71432), toluene (108883), and xylene (1330207) at the National Steel Drum Company (SIC-7699) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 20 to 22, 1978. The evaluation was requested by an authorized employee representative on behalf of approximately 30 employees. Workplace concentrations of all chemicals except sodium-hydroxide were below maximum permissible standards. Three sodium-hydroxide measurements were equal to or greater than the OSHA standard of 2 milligrams per cubic meter. However, the sampling methods for sodium-hydroxide were questionable and no irritation was experienced by investigator or employees. Several other chemicals were detected but were not identified. Among 14 former employees whose vital status could be determined, five of seven deaths were due to cancer
  
  four of the five cancer deaths involved tumors of the lung or bronchia. The investigator concludes that there is insufficient evidence to confirm the existence of a health hazard at the facility. He recommends that employee exposures to chemicals in incoming drums, be reduced and that ventilation, maintenance, and use of safety equipment be improved. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Ferrous Compounds Neoplasms Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Smokers Sodium Hydroxide Solvents Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-sampling Benzene Cleaning-compounds Containers Control-methods Hazard-Unconfirmed HHE-78-49-553 Hydrochloric Acid Iron Oxide Mechanical-cleaning Metal Drum Refinishing NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation OSHA Region 3 Repair-shops Sodium Hydroxide Standards Toluene Total Particulate Work-practices Xylene

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE7849553
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; Philadelphia (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:
  13 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Rosensteel, Robert E. ; Goetz, Carol
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00101026
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB81-149718
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HHE 78-49-553, 1979 Jan ; :1-14
• CAS Registry Number:
  Iron oxide (CAS RN 1309-37-1) ; Hydrogen chloride (CAS RN 7647-01-0) ; Sodium hydroxide (CAS RN 1310-73-2) ; Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1979
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  7699 - Repair services, not elsewhere classified - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d9715a6f4dab37d4d3e685a04f1902dc02e9757741c1b4ff42c8e3b4144cdf5a0771bd08dc069fef435410ca4e3290cff6e2bd25133dd1221090732ae888f7a2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173572/cdc_173572_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.16 MB ]