Health Hazard Evaluation Report HETA 99-0294-2775, Exempla St. Joseph's Hospital,Denver, Colorado

摘要

A health hazard evaluation (HHE) was requested by management at the neonatalintensive care unit (NICU) at Exempla St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The request concerned possible exposures to natural rubber latex (NRL) proteins. Employees reported rhinitis, sneezing, rash, watery eyes, and aggravation of allergic symptoms. A reservoir of dust was found within the NICU; exhaust from the central vacuum cleaning systems was leaking into the ceiling plenum of an area adjacent to the NICU. The system exhausted vacuumed carpet dust into the ceiling plenum, rather than to the outside, as designed. The use of pressure measurements and carbon dioxide tracer gas demonstrated that a potential pathway existed for the movement of airborne dusts from the affected plenum to the adjacent plenum over the NICU.