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Title: Industrial-hygiene report, perchloroethylene at Key Club Cleaners, Skokie, Illinois, July 18, 1979

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6217666

An on site visit was made to the Key Club Cleaners located in Skokie, Illinois as part of an industrywide mortality and industrial hygiene study of the exposure of dry cleaning workers to perchloroethylene (PCE). Current exposure levels of PCE were determined at the facility using battery operated pumps and charcoal tubes. The company used PCE as a dry cleaning solvent since cleaning began at the site in October of 1978. The facility was housed in a one story building with dimensions of about 40 feet by 100 feet. About 90 gallons of PCE were consumed each month during dry cleaning and about 1800 pounds of clothing were dry cleaned each week. The work force numbered nine persons. The time weighted average exposures to PCE of the dry cleaner/spotter and the presser were 49 and 8.5 parts per million (ppm), respectively. The 5 minute peak exposures to the dry cleaner measured during garment transfer ranged from 316 to 447ppm PCE. While the time weighted average exposures were within recommended guidelines, the peak samples during transfer exceeded all recommended levels. The author recommends measures to lower the exposure level.

Research Organization:
National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA). Div. of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies
OSTI ID:
6217666
Report Number(s):
PB-91-131425/XAB; IWS-071.45
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English