NIOSH is in a unique position to improve the lives of American workers through prevention policy, research, and the translation of scientific findings. There are four main avenues by which NIOSH engages in prevention activities--health hazard evaluations, intervention studies, control technology studies, and recommendations to external partners to promote healthy and safe workplaces.
HEALTH HAZARD EVALUATIONS
During FY 1997, NIOSH conducted 335 health hazard evaluations, at the request of employers, employees, and federal, state, and local agencies, to examine potential hazards in the workplace. To fully investigate these situations, NIOSH assembles multi-disciplinary teams that include physicians, industrial hygienists, engineers, and other safety and health professionals to conduct the evaluations. Once the evaluations are complete, the findings and recommendations, which are non-regulatory, are provided to management, labor, and other interested parties. These on-site visits encompass every conceivable industry--from school rooms to auto factories, and from hospitals to chemical manufacturers.
Topics investigated by the health hazard evaluation program in FY 1997 included studies of exposures to a suspected human carcinogen among automotive workers in Marion, Indiana; lead exposures among workers at a lead-acid battery manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas; reports of headaches, discomfort, and irritability among operating room personnel wearing surgical isolation suits at a Cincinnati, Ohio orthopaedic center; and occurrences of respiratory distress among employees at a cement company in Union Bridge, Maryland.
CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES
Reengineering Ink Formulas and Improving Air Flow for Printers at Risk
At a vinyl printing shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, NIOSH scientists used innovative techniques to reduce solvent exposures. At the shop, which specializes in printing shower curtains, the existing controls were both expensive and ineffective at protecting workers from breathing in solvents. The first control suggested by NIOSH was a system for enclosing the silk screen process, thus containing the solvent vapors without interfering with completion of the task. The second control put in place was a new set of inks developed by NIOSH. When using the reformulated ink with increased ventilation rates, workplace concentrations dropped to approximately 10% of those normally experienced. The techniques employed by NIOSH eliminated the use of hazardous chemicals, reduced employee exposures by 90%, and reduced exhaust of hazardous chemicals to the surrounding community.
Developing Engineering Controls to Reduce Occupational Exposure to Asphalt Fumes
NIOSH worked with equipment manufacturers to develop, test, and deploy engineering controls for highway-class asphalt paving equipment. The engineering controls are designed to reduce occupational exposure to asphalt fumes during the paving process. This collaboration resulted in the signing of a voluntary agreement between OSHA and the paving equipment manufacturers to incorporate engineering controls on all highway-class paving equipment manufactured after July 1, 1997.
Partnering of Manufacturers to Make Washing Machines Ergonomically Friendly
NIOSH researchers collaborated with process engineers at an appliance manufacturing facility in Webster City, Iowa to design a new washing machine manufacturing line that falls within ergonomic guidelines. The purpose is to reduce/eliminate musculoskeletal injuries occurring to workers during the manufacturing process. The engineering control findings will be transmitted to the rest of the industry through the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and two industry trade journals, enabling plant engineers to implement the controls in other facilities. A parallel effort at this facility involved a longitudinal musculoskeletal epidemiology study to examine associations between workplace ergonomic and psychosocial stressors and disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
RECOMMENDATIONS
NIOSH Alert: Preventing Allergic Reactions to Natural Rubber Latex in the Workplace
The health care industry employs 7.7 million workers. The prevalence of latex allergy among this group has been estimated to be between 8 and 12%. The NIOSH Latex Alert highlighted the potential for serious allergic reactions to latex and provided recommendations for minimizing latex-related health problems. In FY 1997, NIOSH distributed more than 100,000 copies of this document to hospitals, health care clinics, nursing homes, and dental offices. Informed employers and workers will be taking steps to prevent unnecessary exposure to natural rubber latex products.
NIOSH Technical Document: Engineering Control Guidelines for Hot Mix Asphalt Pavers
The production of this document was the result of an ongoing partnership between NIOSH and other federal agencies, various paver manufacturers, and national asphalt groups. The asphalt document presents guidelines for implementing engineering controls that reduce highway asphalt fumes at the source. Using these guidelines, OSHA signed a Voluntary Agreement with the paving equipment manufacturers to incorporate engineering controls on all highway-class paving equipment manufactured after July 1, 1997. More than 14,000 copies of this document were disseminated in FY 1997. Approximately 300,000 U.S. workers are potentially exposed to asphalt fumes during highway, road, street, and sidewalk construction. Use of recommendations in this document will make the workplace safer for these workers.
Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
In June of 1997, NIOSH published a new edition of the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, one of the most popular documents published by the Government Printing Office (GPO). The NIOSH Pocket Guide is widely used by industry, labor and government as a favorite source of reliable information on chemical hazards and appropriate safeguards. The initial distribution plan calls for NIOSH to distribute 41,000 copies, and the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and GPO, combined, to distribute 100,000. NIOSH copies are already in short supply.
NIOSH Technical Document: Control of Health and Safety Hazards in Commercial Drycleaners
This essential reference on safety and health in the drycleaning industry represents the efforts of NIOSH researchers in collaboration with industry, labor, and other government organizations. The document presents research findings and hazard control measures to regulatory agencies and owners of drycleaning shops. The document helps provide a safe and healthful working environment for workers in the drycleaning industry by describing the most effective control technologies and procedures for reducing occupational exposures to perchloroethylene (PERC) and for controlling exposures to spotting chemicals, to fire, and to ergonomic hazards.