Industrial Hygiene Characterization of Urea Formaldehyde and Polyurethane Foam Insulation

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alcarese AA ; Reisdorf RP
• Description:
  Industrial hygiene surveys were conducted at eight facilities manufacturing and applying urea-formaldehyde (9011056) and polyurethane (68400679) thermal insulation foam. Concentrations of formaldehyde (50000) ranged from less than 0.08 to 5.4 parts per million (ppm) in manufacturing facilities. A concentration of 300ppm of ammonia (7664417) was measured in a breathing zone at one manufacturing facility. Measurements for furfuryl-alcohol (98000), acetaldehyde (75070), phenol (108952), nitrosamines, and respirable dust were below detectable concentrations. Noise levels ranged from 83 to 99 and 96 to 105 decibels on the A-weighted scale (dBA) in manufacturing and application facilities, respectively. Wet bulb globe temperatures (WBGT) were as high as 29 degrees C in manufacturing facilities. Concentrations of diphenylmethane- diisocyanate (101688) (MDI), toluene-diisocyanate (26471625) (TDI), and fluorotrichloromethane (75694) (FTM) polyurethane foam ranged from less than 0.002 to 0.0050ppm, 22 to 310 parts per billion, and concentrations of MDI, FTM alpha-methyl-styrene (98839) and carbon- monoxide (630080) ranged from less than 0.0010 to 0.068, 1.6 to 180, the OSHA standards for formaldehyde are an 8 hour time weighted average (TWA) limit of 3ppm, for ammonia an 8 hour TWA of 50ppm; for MDI and TDI a ceiling limit of 0.02ppm; for FTM 1,000ppm; for alpha- methyl-styrene 100ppm; and for carbon-monoxide 50ppm. The OSHA noise standard is 90 dBA for an 8 hour period. A standard of WBGT of 26.7 degrees C for moderate work is recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. The authors conclude that formaldehyde, ammonia, MDI and TDI concentrations, noise and WBGT levels exceeded the standards and they recommend immediate corrective actions. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Contract; Contract-210-78-0081; Health-surveys; Chemical-manufacturing-industry; Synthetic-materials; Air-contamination; Air-sampling; Noise-pollution; Industrial-processes; Control-methods
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-130
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00112364
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB82-153347
• Citation:
  NIOSH 1980 Oct; :1-130
• CAS Registry Number:
  1,3-Butanediol, polymer with α-butyl-ω-hydroxypoly[oxy(methyl-1,2-ethanediyl)] and 1,3-diisocyanatomethylbenzene (CAS RN 68400-67-9) ; Acetaldehyde (CAS RN 75-07-0) ; a-Methylstyrene (CAS RN 98-83-9) ; Ammonia (CAS RN 7664-41-7) ; Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0) ; Diphenylmethane diisocyanate (CAS RN 101-68-8) ; Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Furfuryl alcohol (CAS RN 98-00-0) ; Phenol (CAS RN 108-95-2) ; Toluene diisocyanate (CAS RN 26471-62-5) ; Trichloromonofluoromethane (CAS RN 75-69-4) ; Urea-formaldehyde resin (CAS RN 9011-05-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1981
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NIOSH, Center for Disease Control, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0db1042a3e67d2aba2f1ff3d2fcb57418733a61ba2d96553eba14e781cb0e5fe035d29d48bf64605360df14835e05b4f2a75d586a0be0bfd717662326d379dd2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/234045/cdc_234045_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.37 MB ]