Survey report: control technology for manual powder weigh-out operations at Merck and Company, Wilson, North Carolina.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Farwick DR ; Heitbrink, William A.
• Description:
  The use of a commercially available booth for manually weighing out powdered materials at Merck and Company, Wilson, North Carolina was evaluated. Scoops were used by workers to transfer material from drums. The supply drums ranged in height from 24 to 33 inches, while the drums receiving the material were 17 inches in height. They were all lined with plastic bags. Air was drawn through exhaust grates along the booth's back wall and then through filters by a fan. High efficiency particulate filters located in the ceiling of the booth allowed about two thirds of the air to be recycled. The ceiling of the booth acted as an air shower. Dry ice was used to visualize the flow of air. This test indicated that there were no eddies present which would force contaminated air to flow into the worker's breathing zone. Activities that caused dust exposure were identified using aerosol instrumentation. An aerosol photometer and an optical particle counter were used to determine worker dust exposure. Videotape recordings were made of the worker's activities. When the worker opened or closed the plastic liner of the drum, the exposure to dust was increased. About 80 to 90% of the total dust exposure was due to the manipulation of the plastic liner of the drum. Dust exposure also increased when the worker reached too far into the drum containing the powder.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Dust Environmental Pollution Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-monitoring Airborne-dusts Control-technology Dust-control Exhaust-ventilation Field-Study Industrial-engineering NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Survey Pharmaceutical-industry Region-4 Ventilation-systems

  More +
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHECTB19713a
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Studies ; Control Technology
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-22
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00224016
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, ECTB 197-13a, 1994 Dec; :1-22
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6c309b15e4b6ff150d5a4d55e03525e9dbd17f7a08aaee7834a907da0731566f261519709b00bafa2e0e267bd1367a20ee8b8f598b546e48b458c8a66282da44
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/180912/cdc_180912_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 438.78 KB ]