Union Carbide Corporation trip report, Chemicals and Plastics Division, Institute, West Virginia, report no. IWS-59-13.
Source
NIOSH 1976 Apr; :1-5
Abstract
A walk through survey was conducted at the Union Carbide Corporation located in Institute, West Virginia, for the purpose of determining the feasibility of including this facility in an epidemiological study of workers involved in coal hydrogenation operations. The facility started partial operation in 1950 with a large pilot facility operating until 1956 and a smaller pilot facility operating until 1963. A black substance which fluoresced under ultraviolet light contaminated the entire area devoted to coal hydrogenation. The total number of workers in the facility from 1950 to 1964 was 445. Inspection of worker's skin between 1955 and 1964 revealed skin cancer occurring at 16 to 30 times the expected rate. While the cohort of 445 men could be identified there were some problems. First, the exposures to the coal hydrogenation process were brief. Secondly, all the employees had other exposures, the effects of some of which may be additive, synergistic, or antagonistic, which would obscure the findings of the study. The author concludes that, primarily due to the diversity of exposures, this facility should not be included in the overall epidemiological survey.
Keywords
NIOSH-Author; NIOSH-Survey; Field-Study; IWS-59-13; Region-3; Rubber-manufacturing-industry; Synthetic-rubber-manufacturing; Epidemiology; Carcinogens; Skin-exposure; Cancer-rates
Document Type
Industry Wide
NTIS Accession No.
PB88-236898
Source Name
NIOSH, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Cincinnati, Ohio, Report No. IWS-59-13, 5 pages, 3 references
