Request for assistance in preventing vision disturbances and acute physical distress due to dimethylethylamine (DMEA) exposure

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:7072596

Methods were sought to reduce exposure to dimethylethylamine (DMEA) among foundry owners, operators, and workers and manufacturers of polyamides, due to possible vision disturbances and acute physical distress which may result. An investigation was made at an aluminum-casting foundry where blurring, fogging, and halo visual disturbances had been reported among workers exposed to DMEA, along with headaches, nausea, stomach pain, and increased heart rate. Medical and environmental studies were made. Exposure concentrations causing effects were measured at equal to or greater than 6 mg/cu m, or 2 parts per million (ppm), 8 hour time-weighted average. Exposures as high as 29 mg/cu m, (9.7 ppm) for 15 minutes also may have caused adverse effects. There was no current permissible exposure limit for DMEA. Leakage around pressure-tight seals in corebox machine gaskets may have accounted for some excessive exposure. It was recommended that more-frequent maintenance of these gaskets be undertaken along with other engineering controls. Work practices should be adjusted so as to reduce the pressure that delivers DMEA to coreboxes and to avoid excess gaseous DMEA in the corebox machine. Protective gloves should be worn. Evacuation plans should be developed in the event of a spill, leak, or other serious accident that may cause high concentrations of DMEA in the workplace.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7072596
• Report Number(s): PB-88-188651/XAB; DHHS/PUB/NIOSH-88-103
• 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
AMINES
CLOTHING
ENGINEERING
FOUNDRIES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
MAINTENANCE
MATERIALS
MEDICINE
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
SAFETY ENGINEERING