Abstract
An industrial hygiene survey was conducted at the Agrico Chemical Company, Pierce, Florida, June 22-26, 1975, to collect environmental data on exposure of personnel to sulfuric-acid, phosphoric-acid, chromium (7440473), uranium (7440611), fluorides, and radiation during the cleaning of the phosphoric-acid (7664382) reactor vessels. The process of phosphate fertilizer (SIC-2874) manufacturing is described, and information is given on the medical, safety and industrial hygiene program at this facility. Concentrations of fluoride, phosphoric-acid, cadmium (7440439) dust, chromium, vanadium (7440622) dust, and sulfuric-acid (7664939) were all below the legal standards. Recommendations are made for improving the safety of the tank cleaning procedure. Agrico's facility is not suitable for epidemiological study because the latency period is too short and also the medical and personnel records were not adequate to perform a retrospective mortality study. Data on uranium and radiation exposure are to be included in a separate report.
Source Name
Industrial Hygiene Section, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies, NIOSH, Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 pages