Industrywide studies report: a walk-through survey of Ethicon, Division of Johnson and Johnson, San Angelo, Texas.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Greife, Alice L. ; Morawetz J ; Steenland, Kyle
• Description:
  A walk through survey was made at Ethicon (SIC-3841), San Angelo, Texas to determine the extent of worker exposure to ethylene-oxide (75218) (EtO) at this facility. Ethicon, a division of Johnson and Johnson, is involved in the production of sutures and needles, and has used EtO since 1974. At the time of the study, Ethicon employed about 1160 hourly and 375 salaried employees. The product line consisted of over 2000 different suture and needle products. About 60% of all products were sterilized with EtO. There were approximately 25 area mechanics, of which four to five were dedicated to the EtO sterilization area. No other significant exposures were noted at the factory with the exception of cobalt (7440484) and benzene (71432). Personnel records were adequate to determine who was exposed at this facility and good industrial hygiene data were available to estimate the exposures. EtO exposure was significantly controlled. The authors conclude that there have been an inadequate number of workers exposed at this site for more than 3 months prior to 1978 to warrant the inclusion of this facility in the EtO cohort mortality study.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Field-Study Hospital-equipment IWS-067-19 Medical-equipment NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Survey Oxides Region-6 Toxic-gases
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Studies ; Industry Wide
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• 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:
  1-21
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194749
• 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, IWS 067-19, 1986 Jan; :1-21
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ethylene oxide (CAS RN 75-21-8) ; Cobalt (CAS RN 7440-48-4) ; Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1986
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3841 - Surgical and medical instruments - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4b85a22cc89a1c58e6949540fef937f12cf6d2018059e94daed8cf20a9fdd1150967bfd10831acb5b57f8ee76f6b10b60af56ba1bbe9fdba0de014cd93db68f3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/180379/cdc_180379_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 719.12 KB ]