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Title: Control-technology assessment of solid-material handling, Phase 1 - bag opening, emptying, and disposal at Rohm and Haas Delaware Valley, Inc. , Bristol, Pennsylvania

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5564617

A control technology assessment of bag opening, emptying, and disposal operations at Rohm and Haas, Incorporated, Bristol, Pennsylvania, was conducted in June, 1984. Engineering controls for reducing airborne dust exposures during opening, emptying, and disposal of bags and drugs during the production of an acrylic polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) alloy were evaluated. Engineering controls consisted of process enclosure, local exhaust ventilation, automatic bulk-feed loading of PVC to the mixer, and floors and walls designed in a way that permitted an effective wash down of contaminated surfaces. An effective respiratory protection program and medical and environmental monitoring programs were in place. Company industrial hygiene data showed that personal exposures to total dust had been reduced from approximately 160 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) in 1974 to 2mg/m3 in 1979. Average exposures to cadmium dust were reduced from 1mg/m3 to 0.01mg/m3 over the same time period.

Research Organization:
National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA). Div. of Physical Sciences and Engineering
OSTI ID:
5564617
Report Number(s):
PB-86-191285/XAB; CT-144-18B
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English