Health Hazard Evaluation Determination Report No. 76-46-375: L. L. Bean, Inc.: Freeport, Maine

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gill, Jack
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Acting on a request received from the management of L. L. Bean, Inc., a production facility engaged in the manufacture of tanned leather (SIC-3111) consumer items, regarding employee exposure to vapors from adhesives and solvents and also a case of nasal irritation from the dust raised in the cutting of chrome tanned leather, a health hazard evaluation was conducted by NIOSH at the above mentioned facility in Freeport, Maine, on May 13 and November 3-5, 1976. Exposure to airborne benzene (71432) in the making room was in excess of the recommended environmental criteria and, due to the potential leukemogenesis of benzene, recommendations are made to ventilate the operation and also to switch to a benzene free solvent. Charcoal tube analysis and detector tube results gave different indications of the potential hazards posed by the concentrations of toluene, hexane (110543), and ethyl-acetate in the air
  
  in both cases, however, the airborne levels were such as to justify changes in the existing ventilation system. Due to the toxicity of the thermal decomposition products of nylon (9006739) and polypropylene and the complaints of mucous membrane irritation recorded among the 19 affected workers, it is appropriate to ventilate the plastic cord cutting operation. Exposure of employees to leather, wood and synthetic rubber dust, chromium (7440473) residue in leather dust, ammonia (7664417), toluene (108883), petroleum naphtha (8030306), acetone (67641), ethyl-acetate (141786), isopropyl-alcohol (67630), butyl-acetate (123864), isobutyl-acetate (110190) xylene (1330207), and 2-ethoxyethanol are not considered to pose a health hazard. The results are based on measurement of workplace concentration of airborne contaminants, survey of process operations and control measures, and interviews with affected employees. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  
  
• Subjects:
  Acetates Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Benzene Carcinogens Environmental Monitoring Hexanes Occupational Health Safety Solvents Toluene Toxicology Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-quality-measurement Air-sampling Benzene Hazards-Confirmed HHE-76-46-375 Leather-industry NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation Organic-solvents OSHA Region 1 Sampling-methods Sole Cleaner Solvent

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• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHHE7646375
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Maine ; Freeport (ME) ; OSHA Region 1
• 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:
  32 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Flesch, Jerome P. ; Alvarado, Paul ; Meyer, Channing R.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00069416
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB-270927
• 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 76-46-375, 1977 Mar ; :1-32
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; n-Hexane (CAS RN 110-54-3) ; Chromium (CAS RN 7440-47-3) ; Ammonia (anhydrous) (CAS RN 7664-41-7) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Naphtha (CAS RN 8030-30-6) ; Acetone (CAS RN 67-64-1) ; Ethyl acetate (CAS RN 141-78-6) ; Isopropyl alcohol (CAS RN 67-63-0) ; n-Butyl acetate (CAS RN 123-86-4) ; Isobutyl acetate (CAS RN 110-19-0) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1977
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3111 - Leather tanning and finishing - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:041fdea3217500b14bff5a08c6d05276d88403742d6022eb1a985c2bfb60aac66dff7244b1060072d9fe6ee4fc6ae28e00927e39ce9b53535a3e575f4f115f5a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/173957/cdc_173957_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.51 MB ]