A Historical Chemical Exposure Strategy Developed to Analyze Solvent Exposures of Workers at the Savannah River Site

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fleming D ; Markey A
• Description:
  In support of a case-control epidemiology study of leukemia and external ionizing radiation at five U.S. Department of Energy sites, historical chemical exposure strategies have been developed for worker solvent exposure, a potential confounding factor. The size of the Savannah River Site population (207 workers) allows for an extensive exploration of potential chemical solvent confounders during the study period of 1951 to 1996. An exposure assessment strategy was developed to determine the levels of confounding by chemical solvent exposures, concentrating on benzene and carbon tetrachloride. The 207 study subjects have 86 unique job titles with the most frequent being mechanic, operator, patrolman, and engineer. The initial step in the exposure assessment process looked at potential exposures linked by job title, work location, and the time period in which the exposure was generated taking into consideration changes in personal protective equipment use, engineering controls, and removal of chemicals from the workplace. In order to implement this assessment strategy, work histories for each study subject were compiled using available information from electronic images of medical, personnel, and health physics records. A job exposure matrix (JEM) detailing the exposures to chemical solvents was developed through a comprehensive review of process descriptions, chemical inventories, and industrial hygiene monitoring data for each combination of site, work location, job title, and time period for each individual study location. After finalizing the JEM, the job title histories have a 93% completion rate (3331 of 3594 person-years); the division descriptor has a 95% completion rate (3405 of 3594 person-years), and the location descriptor has a 64% completion rate (2296 of 3594 person-years ). Comparison of these three factors allowed imputation of missing values. Categories of exposures can be assigned with these different methods of examining chemical solvent use at the site. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Benzene Engineering Epidemiology Hematologic Diseases Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Radiation Safety Solvents

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• Keywords:
  Benzenes Blood-disorders Cancer Cancer-rates Engineering-controls Nuclear-hazards Occupational-exposure Personal-protective-equipment Radiation-exposure
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  87
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024827
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 8-13, 2004, Atlanta, Georgia. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2004 May; :87
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Carbon tetrachloride (CAS RN 56-23-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 8-13, 2004, Atlanta, Georgia
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e6dba9157308430a48ee12bc4a9ea5a5135c9a02add98c71791bde18330efd8d350e7580d73d2a881a311eb2e47d0a72facd8e69deddd7b4e6fac03ba06ff4fe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196443/cdc_196443_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.47 MB ]