Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report HE 77-41-505: General American Transportation Corporation: Masury, Ohio

Details

• Personal Author:
  Price, James H. ; Stroman, Raymond E.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Environmental and medical surveys were conducted on April 4 to 7, 1977, and June 7 to 9, 1977, to determine employee exposures to dust fumes, smoke and gases from welding and plasma arc cutting, isocyanate (661201) vapors and x-ray radiation at the General American Transportation Corporation (SIC-3743) in Masury, Ohio. Authorized representatives of United Steelworkers of America, Local 1534 and 2318, requested the evaluation on behalf of approximately 1000 affected workers. Twenty four of 52 employees were exposed to concentrations of fluoride (16984488), copper (7440508), iron-oxide (1309371), nickel (7440020), chromium-VI (7440473), vanadium (7440622) and total particulates in excess of OSHA standards. Concentrations of carbon-monoxide (630080), formaldehyde (50000) and polymethylene-polyphenyl-isocyanate (9016879) also exceeded current OSHA exposure limits. No abnormalities other than abrasions and burns associated with welding and heavy metal handling were found. The author concludes that excessive contaminant emissions are produced from welding, air arc repairing, chipping and gouging, bank cleaning and grinding. Local ventilation should be instituted to control excessive emissions, respiratory protection should be used, fibrous glass insulation treated with resin materials and used to seal annealing furnace doors should be substituted with a safer material, undue exposure to isocyanates should be avoided when handling urethane foams, and continuous surveillance should be maintained on all radiography equipment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Chromium Copper Fluorides Formaldehyde Isocyanates Labor Unions Metals Metal Workers Nickel Occupational Health Particulate Matter Poisoning Radiation Railroads Safety Ventilation Welding Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Air-contaminants Air Arc Repairing Carbon Monoxide Carboxyhemoglobin Gases Hazards-Confirmed HHE-77-41-505 Humans Insulation-materials Ionizing-radiation Metallic-poisons Metalworking NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation OSHA Region 5 Plasma Arc Cutting Railroad-equipment Total Particulate Unions Welders Work-environment

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE7741505
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; Masury (OH) ; OSHA Region 5
• 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:
  54 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Rosensteel, Robert E. ; Hollett, Bruce A. ; Evans, William A. ; Zisner, Martin H. ; Holt, John C. ; Grote, Ardith A. ; Lebrizzi, Joseph M. ; Gibson, Gordon ; Pierce, Frank D. ; Goetz, Carol
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00099479
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB81-150492
• 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 77-41-505, 1978 Jul ; :1-54
• CAS Registry Number:
  Isocyanate (CAS RN 661-20-1) ; Fluoride (CAS RN 16984-48-8) ; Copper (CAS RN 7440-50-8) ; Ferric oxide (CAS RN 1309-37-1) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Chromium (CAS RN 7440-47-3) ; Vanadium (CAS RN 7440-62-2) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Polymethylenepolyphenyl-isocyanate (CAS RN 9016-87-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1978
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3743 - Railroad equipment - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:535da228f419c89e519a28da60972d465e1b66ca4900a1158ff87ae2e50788678874ecab0a0afa262a60b1526ceb31339e3d30053b7bc6cd354fd010678bc882
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173619/cdc_173619_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 15.87 MB ]