Pesticides engineering control technology assessment survey, Plant M-5 at Stauffer Chemical, San Gabriel, Lousiana.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fowler DP ; Gikis BJ ; Staaterman HG
• Description:
  This report is intended to describe effective applications of control technology which may be of general use to the pesticide manufacturing and formulating industry: it is not intended to describe all aspects of control programs in this plant. Plant M-5 formulates several pesticides, both as liquids and granular solids. Most liquid products are packaged in five gallon steel cans and the granular product in 5, 10, 25 and 50 pound bags. While most of the products are of relatively low toxicity (LD50 greater than 1000 mg/kg), one product is extremely toxic (LD50 from 10-20 mg/kg). Low toxicity technical pesticides are shipped to the plant in 20,000 gallon railroad tank cars and are unloaded from the top. These compounds have low vapor pressure and do not present a severe evaporation problem. The plant employs between 50 and 60 people and operates two shifts per day, five days per week. Maintenance is performed by the company's employees. The plant has an excellent safety record with over 2800 days without lost time injury. This record is a result of the effort made by the company to provide a safe workplace and to enforce good, safe work practices. Certain general process engineering measures were noted as contributing to this record as well. First, simplicity in handling and equipment is sought. As an example, the use of mechanical tank level sensors is preferred over electrical devices because of the relative ease of adjustment and the thereby lessened exposure risk during maintenance. Second, quality control sampling is held to the minimum necessary for regulatory purposes and documentation by exercising strict control over batch quantities. (Quality control sampling is often a source of exposure.) Third, the quantity of material stored at anyone location is limited. This reduces the risk of a fire or explosion which could produce a massive emission of combustion products.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Hazardous Substances Mental Health Nervous System Nervous System Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Chemical-factory-workers Chemical-industry-workers Chemical-manufacturing-industry Control-technology Employee-exposure Engineering-controls Occupational-exposure Pesticide-industry Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Region-4 Work-practices

  More +
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHECTB12919a
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Field Studies ; Control Technology ; Final Contract Report
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Louisiana ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:20035745
• 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, ECTB 129-19a, 1980 Feb; :1-22
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1980
• Performing Organization:
  SRI International, Menlo Park, California
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c6a48f7f866416f1ab3744effaad561394ce358b7d8ef8ab9768c57f9f8b62b562a30e24135dc4e6a2965f682c807416e2b64b42c55d283460ade0a465c58a48
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181533/cdc_181533_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 462.86 KB ]