HHE Determination, Report No. HHE-77-42-452, cleaning house at the Wire Mill, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Authors
Geissert JO
Source
Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HHE 77-42-452, 1977 Dec; :1-20
A Health Hazard Evaluation investigation was conducted by NIOSH on February 9-10, and June 22-23, 1977, in the Wire Cleaning House (SIC- 3312) of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The survey was prompted by a request from an authorized employee representative concerning exposure to toxic chemicals and alleging a high incidence of respiratory disorders among the employees. Exposure of employees to hydrochloric-acid (7647010) and sulfuric- acid (7664939) exceeded accepted exposure limits, while exposure to carbon-monoxide (630080) potentially exceeded accepted limits during the use of gasoline (8006619) powered equipment. Medical interviews elicited symptomatology suggesting chronic respiratory disease in most of the crane operators and picklers, but its incidence correlated more closely with smoking history than with occupational exposure to acid mists and/or gases. Recommendations are made for reducing worker exposures. One third of the cranemen and picklers described premature tooth erosion and loss, while 44 percent of the workers in this group reported skin problems probably related to skin contact with the materials in use.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.