Health Hazard Evaluation Report No. HETA 81-411-1182, Corhart Refractory, Louisville, Kentucky

摘要

NIOSH visited the refractory on September 2, 1981. A follow-up visit from October 26-28, 1981, where results of environmental samples were: formaldehyde, non-detectable to 0.64 mg/cu m; MDI, non-detectable to 0.0068 mg/cu m; phenol, non-detectable to 0.64 mg/cu m; C8 through C11 aromatic hydrocarbons, 7.9 to 160.4 mg/cu m; unknown organics, major contaminants consisted of C8 through C11 molecular weight aromatic hydrocarbons in amounts too low to quantitate; fibrous material, no asbestos detected. NIOSH investigators concluded that current health effects are mild, transient, and probably related to exposure to formaldehyde (non-detectable to 0.64 mg/cu m) combined with the added effects from low levels of phenol (non-detectable to 0.64 mg/cu m) and MDI (non-detectable to 0.006 mg/cu m). Recent findings regarding the potential of formaldehyde as a human cancer-causing agent make the necessity of reducing this exposure more urgent than in 1976. Recommendations to achieve this are made in the body of the full report.