An exposure assessment of industries using ethylene glycol ethers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Krishnan ER ; Piacitelli, Gregory M. ; Votaw DM
• Description:
  A study of occupational exposure to glycol ethers was conducted. Field surveys were conducted by NIOSH at eight facilities that used 2-methoxymethanol (109864), 2-methoxyethyl-acetate (110496), 2- ethoxyethanol (110805), or 2-ethoxyethyl-acetate (111159) in their operations. The sites consisted of an aerospace equipment manufacturer, a glycol ethers formulator, an automotive assembly factory, an aircraft maintenance hanger, a jet fuel terminal, a coatings formulator, a paperboard manufacturer, and an electronics parts manufacturer. A total of 151 environmental and breathing zone samples were collected at the facilities and analyzed for glycol ethers. Process operations, engineering controls, the size of the exposed workforce, and the existing industrial hygiene programs were observed. The number of employees ranged from 22 at the jet fuel terminal to 10,000 at the aerospace equipment manufacturer. The number of exposed workers ranged from five to 82. Existing industrial programs ranged from none at the jet fuel terminal to comprehensive annual medical examinations and exposure monitoring by company industrial hygienists at the aerospace equipment manufacturer. All except the paperboard manufacturer had engineering controls such as local exhaust ventilation and good housekeeping practices. Less than half of the samples had detectable glycol ether concentrations. These ranged from 0.04 to 2.77 parts per million (ppm) in the long term environmental samples and 0.21 to 11.9ppm in the short term samples. Most breathing zone samples had glycol ether concentrations well below the relevant OSHA or American Conference of Industrial Hygienists standards. Most facilities, however, had a potential for dermal exposure. The authors conclude that inhalation exposures to glycol ethers at the facilities are generally below the recommended standards. A high potential for dermal exposure exists at some facilities. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerospace Medicine Aircraft Automobiles Environmental Monitoring Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Skin
• Keywords:
  Aerospace-industry AIHYEX Air-monitoring Airport-personnel Automotive-industry Electronics-industry Industrial-hygiene NIOSH-Author Occupational-exposure Organic-chemicals Skin-exposure

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• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  107-114
• Volume:
  5
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194546
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 1990 Feb; 5(2):107-114
• CAS Registry Number:
  2-Methoxyethanol (CAS RN 109-86-4) ; Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (CAS RN 110-49-6) ; Glycol monoethyl ether (CAS RN 110-80-5) ; Glycol monoethyl ether acetate (CAS RN 111-15-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• 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-512:9a9ae54261157a8a754906087abcdea79c2d7b7fe66b35af9ecfd91cf97eff6528f1956d8e04230d7dfc5f1ee1c48358353405527a9dea33c8daaeaeba6c8974
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204144/cdc_204144_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1017.07 KB ]