Technical Assistance Report No. TA-77-39: Morris Forman Wastewater Treatment Plant, Metropolitan Sewer District: Louisville, Kentucky

Details

• Journal Article:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Personal Author:
  Kominsky, John R. ; Wisseman, Charles L. III
• Description:
  In response to a request from the Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, a health evaluation was made of conditions at the Morris Wastewater Treatment facility of the Metropolitan Sewer District. On March 26, 1977, a strong smelling, highly viscous, sticky substance entered the facility, coating the bar screens and grit collection systems in the primary treatment area. The facility was evacuated and closed on March 29 when it was learned that the contaminant included hexachlorocyclopentadiene (77474) (HCCPD) and octachlorocyclopentene (706785) (OCCP) dispersed in about 6 tons of fuel-oil which had been dumped directly into the municipal sewer system's Western Outfall Sewer. Workers experienced headache; eye, nose and throat irritation; chest discomfort; shortness of breath; skin irritation; nausea; and fatigue which lasted up to 6 weeks in 15 to 46 percent of the cases. At least one abnormal liver function was noted in 19 percent of the crew of exposed workers wearing protective gear. NIOSH offered technical assistance during the cleanup period and as of January 1, 1978, the facility was treating about 85 million gallons of flow per day. Two major work efforts remained at that time: approximately 9,700 linear feet of the Western Outfall Sewer and about 6,780 linear feet of the Western Interceptor Sewer needed to be cleaned. The authors recommend continued medical monitoring of personnel and cleaning techniques to be used. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Environmental Pollution Fuel Oils Hydrocarbons Occupational Health Safety Waste Management
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Author; TA-77-39; Region-4; Hazards-Confirmed; NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report; Environmental-contamination; Fuels; Chlorinated-hydrocarbons; Sewage-treatment; Waste-treatment
• Source:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1978 Aug; :1-80
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Technical Assistance Field Studies
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Technical Report
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; Maine ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4 ; 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:
  86 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00179008
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-178088
• 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, 1978 Aug; :1-80
• CAS Registry Number:
  Hexachlorocyclopentadiene (CAS RN 77-47-4) ; Octachlorocyclopentene (CAS RN 706-78-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1978
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f49b4b3257013c4aac1d88ab6ebdf0ffcc4bff20c4c97e4c6410e766ea19e2f0107bd57f62238ef2a05e90f12ceb9c007688a88947864c10299393a739cb0415
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171990/cdc_171990_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.81 MB ]