Extent-of exposure study: 1,3-butadiene polymer production industry.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fajen JM
• Description:
  An extent of exposure study of the 1,3-butadiene (106990) polymer industry was conducted to determine the size of the exposed workforce, evaluate control technologies and personal protective equipment programs, and assess occupational exposure to the chemical. A new analytical method, sensitive to 0.1 micrograms per sample, was presented for 1,3-butadiene. A total of 17 polymer facilities were surveyed. A representative sample of 5 facilities was selected for in depth industrial hygiene surveys. These firms manufacture styrene-butadiene rubber, nitrile-butadiene rubber, adiponitrile, polybutadiene rubber of neoprene. For each job category personal sampling was carried out, for a total of 451 personal air samples. An additional 132 area air samples were obtained in the process area to determine the potential for exposure in general work environments. All worker exposures were well below the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 1000 parts per million (ppm). Exposures ranged from less than 0.006ppm to 209.6ppm; the average exposure was less than 2ppm. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists threshold limit value for 1,3- butadiene was 10ppm; nineteen of the 451 samples exceeded this 10ppm level. Several recommendations were made: (1) to reduce the potential for occupational exposure it was recommended that quality control sampling be conducted with a closed loop, (2) all process pumps should be retrofitted with dual mechanical seals, (3) magnetic gauges should be used in the loading and unloading of rail cars, (4) engineering controls should be designed for the safe voiding of quality control cylinders.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Chromatography Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Air-monitoring Air-quality Chemical-analysis NIOSH-Author Personal-protective-equipment Polymerization Rubber-manufacturing-industry
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Other
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; 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:
  1-112
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00186107
• 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, 1988 Feb; :1-112
• CAS Registry Number:
  1,3-Butadiene (CAS RN 106-99-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8be730135b1a22e5ed8f4e47f2f4393f881181581e1d4254bb5c56f603cedfb93511ec8fc3c982b8c514279363319a560691d12ad13d10f7f42f36f7a976a925
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/180228/cdc_180228_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.78 MB ]