Industrywide studies report of an in-depth survey at E. I. duPont Denemours and Company, Sabine River Works, Orange, Texas, August 25-28, 1986

Technical Report · Mon Mar 30 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6027713

Krishnan, E R; Fajen, J M

In order to assess the extent of worker exposure to 1,3-butadiene, an in-depth industrial hygiene survey was conducted at the E.I. duPont deNemours and Company in Orange, Texas. This facility had a capacity of 490 million pounds per year of adiponitrile (ADN) by synthesis of 1,3-butadiene and hydrogen cyanide. Workers' full-shift exposures to 1,3-butadiene were below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists threshold limit value of 10 parts per million (ppm) and the present Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limit of 1000ppm. The only exception was a shipping technician's exposure of 28.5ppm. Arithmetic and geometric mean full-shift exposures across all job categories were less than 0.20ppm, except for the shipping technicians whose arithmetic and geometric mean full-shift exposures were 14.6 and 4.69 ppm, respectively. Under normal operating conditions, airborne concentrations in all work environments were at or below 0.60ppm. The authors recommend that consideration be given to converting to a closed loop sampling system for obtaining quality-control readings from barges. A program to convert to 100% magnetic gauges should be undertaken to replace those slip-tube gauges currently in use.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6027713
• Report Number(s): PB-87-205845/XAB; IWS-147.32B
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
552000 -- Public Health
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
AIR POLLUTION
BUTADIENE
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
DIENES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HYDROCARBONS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
INDUSTRY
INSPECTION
MATERIALS
MEDICINE
NITRILES
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLYENES
SAFETY
TOXICITY