Counting Coin and Paper Currency: Were Reported Health Problems Related to the Work Environment?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Delaney, Lisa J. ; Kiefer, Max
• Description:
  Measured exposures to nickel, copper, and zinc during currency counting activities were below applicable exposure criteria, and did not show an inhalation hazard for the sampled employees. The surface sampling results indicate that additional cleaning in the coin-counting room is warranted to make sure that metal dust does not accumulate. Exposure to noise did not exceed applicable criteria in either the Hard Count or Soft Count work areas. The ventilation system does not appear to adequately provide sufficient quantities of conditioned air to the Hard and Soft Count rooms. Of the two rooms, the Soft Count room was the most severely underventilated. RH levels were well below accept- able comfort criteria, which may account for some of the eye and nasal irritation re- ported by workers. Tobacco smoke was detected in nonsmoking areas, indicating that smoke is not being effectively isolated and ventilated. As the air sampling did not identify excessive exposure to contaminants from the counting activities, it is possible that many of the health complaints could be resolved by improving the general indoor environmental quality in the counting area. This could be accomplished by ensuring that a sufficient amount of conditioned air (temperature and RH within acceptable ranges) is provided to each room, isolating tobacco smoke, improving janitorial practices, and altering maintenance procedures. A number of lifting activities involving heavy loads and akward postures were observed during this survey; these should be addressed by conducting a comprehensive ergonomic review of counting tasks. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Copper Dust Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Metals Nickel Occupational Health Safety Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-quality Air-quality-monitoring Air-sampling Copper-alloys Copper-nickel-zinc-alloys Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Metal-compounds Metal-dusts Nickel-compounds Ventilation-systems

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• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Ohio ; 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:
  389-397
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022630
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 2002 Jun; 17(6):389-397
• CAS Registry Number:
  Copper (CAS RN 7440-50-8) ; Nickel (CAS RN 7440-02-0) ; Zinc (CAS RN 7440-66-6)
• Editor(s):
  Tharr D
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:26da6a67de627165c4cf66830d5ad49d30b444d595e01ae8acfd86d6c1cb73aa82aefcafb4853b78633a51fec338fc0d25ca7491fc41bd348cd9f53fdcaa4257
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/199340/cdc_199340_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 201.58 KB ]