Control Technology for Bag Opening, Emptying, and Disposal at Lakewood Chemical Company, East Palestine, Ohio. Walk-Through Survey Report

摘要

A walk through survey was conducted at Lakewood Chemical Company (SIC-2819), in East Palestine, Ohio, on April 19, 1983. The survey was conducted as part of a study of dust control during bag opening, dumping, and disposal. Potential hazards existed for dermal and respirable exposures to lime (471341) soda-ash (497198), and fluorospar (14542235). Approximately 15 workers were employed in the facility. The manual bag dump station had been in use for 7 years. Exposures to airborne dust were created from bag breaking, handling empty bags, and compression of the bags into the disposal bin. Engineering controls included local exhaust ventilation at the bag opener that consisted of a hood set on top of a hopper. Personal protection consisted of cloth gloves and disposable respirators. The facility was clean, and workers used care in disposal of the bags. The author concludes that the manual bag dump station is an ineffective engineering control. Air velocity through the hopper grate is inadequate and does not contain the dust generated by bag dumping.