Exposure Characterization of Workers at Georgia Manufactured Home Facilities, 1990–2000

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brueck, Scott E. ; Wickman A
• Description:
  The Safety and Health Consultation Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology provides free consultation to small businesses in Georgia. Between 1990 and 2000 industrial hygiene surveys were conducted at 10 manufactured home facilities in the state. Each facility had approximately 125 to 300 employees and typically operated one shift per day. Manufacturing activities included welding, woodworking, cutting drywall, use of pneumatic staple and nail guns, and other activities similar to those in residential construction. Representative air sampling was conducted to measure employees' exposures to wood dust, nuisance dust, metal fumes from welding, and methylene diisocyanate (MOl). Monitoring results revealed exposures to be in excess of the OSHA PEL and/or the ACGIH TLV for each of these air contaminants, except MOl. Of particular concern were exposures to welding fumes and manganese fume. Fifty percent of the welders monitored had exposures in excess of the TLV (5.0 mg/m3) for total welding fumes and 83% had exposures to manganese fumes which exceeded the TLV (0.2 mg/m3). Specific problems with the exhaust ventilation system in the woodworking and drywall areas, such as plugged exhaust ducts, were observed and likely contributed to excessive exposures in those areas. Representative full shift noise monitoring indicated that more than 50% of the employees were exposed to noise levels greater than OSHA's Action Level of 85 dBA and over 10% were exposed above the PEL of 90 dBA. Additional noise concerns included lack of proper hearing protection use, inadequate or no hearing conservation program, and leaking compressed air lines contributing to noise exposures. Other problems identified at these facilities included inadequate safety and health programs such as hazard communication, personal protective equipment, respiratory protection, fall protection, and prevention of commonly occurring injuries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Welding Wood Workplace
• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Air-sampling Dust-particles Dusts Exposure-levels Fumes Industrial-hygiene Woodworking Workers Workplace-monitoring
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Georgia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  79
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022473
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2002 Jun; :79
• CAS Registry Number:
  Diphenylmethane diisocyanate (CAS RN 101-68-8) ; Manganese (CAS RN 7439-96-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Other Occupational Concerns
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 1-6, 2002, San Diego, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3dc7279cde36cbfc7090daff6fc3a1f9b857368c1dcebaec35b1b7c33ffb1b9049bd3dbf4a107e7c15c9aff1a4c54d77f7b6c188f22fad0d151049405c8b72f2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199240/cdc_199240_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 486.40 KB ]