Walk Through Survey Report of the Oral Contraceptive Manufacturing Operations at Ortho Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dorado, Puerto Rico, May 16-17, 1978

摘要

Worker exposures to estrogens were studied at Ortho Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated in Dorado, Puerto Rico, May 16-17, 1978. The company was under consideration for inclusion in a NIOSH study of the health effects of occupational estrogen exposure. Approximately 115 of the employees at the facility were assigned to the estrogen manufacturing areas that were surveyed. The company had no formal safety and industrial hygiene program. Medical services were furnished by a local physician on a part-time basis and one full-time nurse. Personnel records provided demographic information, department assignments, and absence reports. Workers in the manufacturing area had the greatest potential for estrogen exposure. Estrogen exposures to the packaging area operators, quality assurance technicians, and maintenance workers were intermittent and minimal. The authors conclude that this work force should not be used for a mortality study and a reproductive study due to limitations of personnel records, small number of exposed personnel, short exposure periods, exclusion of women from the manufacturing area, and the product exposure data limitations.