Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 99-0137-2810, World Color Press, Effingham, Illinois.

摘要

On March 16, 1999, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) received a request from the Graphic Communications Local No. 391-C union to conduct a health hazard evaluation (HHE) at World Color Press located in Effingham, Illinois. Employees reportedly had unspecified respiratory problems and skin rashes that they believed were caused by occupational exposures to solvents and inks during printing and binding processes. On June 23-24, 1999, a walk-through survey was conducted to review the printing and bindery processes, conduct air sampling for potential air contaminants, and interview employees. A follow-up industrial hygiene survey was conducted on September 8-9, 1999, to measure workers' exposures to petroleum naphthas, 2-butoxyethanol, aldehydes, and resin acids (specifically abietic and dehydroabietic acids). Full-shift personal breathing-zone (PBZ) air samples collected for petroleum naphthas on press operators and press cleaners revealed time-weighed average (TWA) exposures of 48 and 98 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/cu.m3), respectively. These exposures were below both the NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL) of 350 mg/cu.m3 for up to a 10-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 2000 mg/cu.m3. Full-shift 2-butoxyethanol exposures ranged up to 1.9 mg/cu.m3, below both the NIOSH REL of 24 mg/cu.m3 as a 10-hour TWA and the OSHA PEL of 240 mg/cu.m3 as an 8-hour TWA.