Health Hazard Evaluation Program: Exposure to Lead During Work on and near Lead-Sheathed Telecommunication Cables [HHE-2024-0046-3413]

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Exposure to Lead During Work on and near Lead-Sheathed Telecommunication Cables
• Personal Author:
  Li, Jessica F. ; Zacks, Rachael
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  Request: A union representing workers at a telecommunications provider requested a health hazard evaluation (HHE) to evaluate lead exposure among workers conducting repair, maintenance, and installation of telecommunications cables. Workplace: The local union represented telecommunications workers working across two states. The union identified three garages with a higher concern of possible lead exposure to focus on for the evaluation. At the beginning of a shift, workers gathered at their assigned garage and received important messages and assignments for the day. Workers drove their work vehicle with equipment to the field site. Some workers did not report to a garage before arriving to the field site, driving their work vehicle to and from their homes or a central office location. Workers then conducted their assignment of repairing, maintaining, or installing telecommunications cables in crews of at least two workers. Depending on the assignment, multiple crews may work together or near one another to complete the work. The field sites vary and can be categorized based on where the telecommunication cables exist: Underground environments (also known as manholes): telecommunication manholes are typically located in urban environments. These manholes provide access points to telecommunication cables and equipment under streets or sidewalks. Manholes vary in size, which can affect the ability of a worker to move around in the manhole. Between manholes, telecommunication cables run through plastic or metal tubes called conduits. Central offices: facilities or buildings where telecommunication service providers house equipment and infrastructure necessary to manage, route, and switch communication signals. Central offices are a hub for handling local telecommunication services and have a large volume of telecommunications cables. Aerial environments: telecommunication cables are attached to utility poles and require workers to use a bucket truck to access and work on cables. These environments are open-air and can vary in height. Other locations may also exist where telecommunication cables are present and need repair. Examples include inside residences or in shallow trenches. Wires within a cable are protected from the elements by several layers of material, one of which may be a layer of lead. In lead-sheathed telecommunication cable, the lead sheath protects the insulated conductors (wires) within. Some lead-sheathed cable remains in use. Some lead-sheathed cables have been removed and replaced by plastic-sheathed and fiber-optic cables, while some have been abandoned in place. For repair work, workers cut open a lead-sheathed cable or a plastic covering to access the wires within a cable. For underground installation work, workers entered a series of manholes to prepare conduits for installation of new cable. At the end of the shift, workers cleaned up at the field site and returned either to the garage, directly back home, or to a central office. Assignments could vary in duration from several hours to several weeks, depending on the type of assignment.
• Subjects:
  Lead Occupational Health Safety Telecommunications
• Keywords:
  Lead-sheathed Cable Lead Sheath Telecom
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study ; Case Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  54 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Watts, Shawna ; Somerville, Nicholas ; Feldmann, Karl ; Sparks, Ken ; Hartwell, Joseph
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070959
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2025]. Exposure to lead during work on and near lead-sheathed telecommunication cables. By Li JF, Zacks R. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Hazard Evaluation Report 2024-0046-3413, https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/2024-0046-3413.pdf.
• CAS Registry Number:
  Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Editor(s):
  Hamilton, Cheryl
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  517112 - Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite) - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ef48e3f84108139338faabac6a314c6828636bdad4c715735fa557754a0235440da670c2dfc3ad5649044c6a1b3b2637a734c5379cf9a0b6baf9661ea89ec8c8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/232225/cdc_232225_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 986.15 KB ]