Beryllium Contamination Inside Vehicles of Machine Shop Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ellis K ; Henneberger, Paul K. ; Martyny J ; Mroz MM ; Newman, Lee S. ; Sanderson, Wayne T.
• Description:
  Beryllium samples collected inside the control vehicles indicated that the background beryllium contamination from environmental sources is very low. Since a safe or recommended minimum concentration of beryllium on the surfaces of hands and automobiles is not known, it is difficult to evaluate the health risks associated with the levels found for the workers at this machining plant. But as an indicator of take-home exposures and increased risk for family members to inhale beryllium, it is prudent to reduce surface concentrations and the potential for workers to racy beryllium away from the work site. Therefore, the wipe sampling results--showing that many workers both carried residual beryllium on their hands when leaving work and has contaminated the inside of their vehicles--were presented to the workers and company management. Based on NIOSH recommendations, the company redesigned the locker rooms, requires all workers to wear coveralls and work shoes while working inside the plant, and to shower before changing into their street clothes and shoes. To date, no cases of chronic beryllium disease have been diagnosed in family members of workers at this particular facility. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Beryllium Metals Metal Workers Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Beryllium Beryllium-compounds Beryllium-disease Machinists Metal-industry-workers Metal-workers Occupational Safety And Health Pulmonary-system-disorders Surface Beryllium Contamination Take-home-toxins Take-home Exposure Work-environment Work Environment

  More +
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  72-74
• Volume:
  36
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20000830
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 1999 Sep; 36(S1):72-74
• Contact Point Address:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DSHEFS, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  wts1@cdc.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Beryllium (CAS RN 7440-41-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Performing Organization:
  National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Denver, Colorado
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19950930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20000929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8374d375ad2ceb2493adec09aa6e17a7fec6c836ca394aa55c5dc47d64295c07cd449084ebea44bc6f6adad1abe0ff90983c7007b25d943182b4b91a899d9f14
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198206/cdc_198206_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 79.97 KB ]