Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report No. 77-42-452: Cleaning House at the Wire Mill, Bethlehem Steel Corporation: Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Details

• Personal Author:
  Geissert, Jack O.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  A Health Hazard Evaluation investigation was conducted by NIOSH on February 9-10, and June 22-23, 1977, in the Wire Cleaning House (SIC- 3312) of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The survey was prompted by a request from an authorized employee representative concerning exposure to toxic chemicals and alleging a high incidence of respiratory disorders among the employees. Exposure of employees to hydrochloric-acid (7647010) and sulfuric- acid (7664939) exceeded accepted exposure limits, while exposure to carbon-monoxide (630080) potentially exceeded accepted limits during the use of gasoline (8006619) powered equipment. Medical interviews elicited symptomatology suggesting chronic respiratory disease in most of the crane operators and picklers, but its incidence correlated more closely with smoking history than with occupational exposure to acid mists and/or gases. Recommendations are made for reducing worker exposures. One third of the cranemen and picklers described premature tooth erosion and loss, while 44 percent of the workers in this group reported skin problems probably related to skin contact with the materials in use. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Hypersensitivity Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Metal Workers Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Skin Skin Diseases Smokers Toxicology Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Acid-pickling Air-contamination Air-quality-measurement Chemical-cleaning Hazard-Confirmed HHE-77-42-452 Industrial-plants Inorganic-acids NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation OSHA Region 3 Respiratory-system-disorders Skin-disorders Steel-industry Toxic-chemicals

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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:
  Pennsylvania ; Johnstown (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:
  22 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Belanger, Pierre L. ; Pryor, Paul D. ; Peteet, David D. ; Eller, Peter M. ; Kim, Soo Wang ; Pierce, F.D. ; Holthaus, Marie A.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00076131
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB-278061
• 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 77-42-452, 1977 Dec ; :1-20
• CAS Registry Number:
  Hydrogen chloride (CAS RN 7647-01-0) ; Sulfuric acid (CAS RN 7664-93-9) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Gasoline (CAS RN 86290-81-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1978
• NORA Priority Area:
  Respiratory-system-disorders
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3312 - Blast furnaces and steel mills - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:710a4831819bce3e2f99a0618b82728e52494985d839826a798ac20a2b5e6e8891b448acc7f4e3cffab75a7cf1d8b944be73dd6f12b0a077ee704ddf2b0e43b1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173859/cdc_173859_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.12 MB ]