| Abstract |
Environmental and breathing zone samples were analyzed for 18 organic solvents individually and as mixtures at two facilities of Henredon Furniture Industries, Incorporated (SIC-2511) Morgantown, North Carolina on June 23 to 26, 1981. The concentrations of the individual solvents were below all current NIOSH or American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) recommendations. Additive exposures to solvent mixtures were 101, 121, and 125 percent of the threshold limit values at three booths in factory number 1, the older facility. Preemployment medical examinations were not required, only a simple medical history being obtained. No developed industrial hygiene program was in effect. Engineering controls consisted of using water wall spray booths equipped with over spray controls. Poor work practices such as leaving stripping solvent bins open and placing newly finished, wet furniture in unventilated areas in factory number 1 were observed. The author recommends that work practices be improved. He notes that although exposures to one of the solvents, 2-butoxyethanol (111762), were well below the OSHA and ACGIH standards, it is not known whether these limits are adequate to protect against potential adverse reproductive health effects, as indicated in recent laboratory animal studies. |
