Document 6wOppM6VOqL1QB1gGJ3aMdga4

Prcprin '--Subject to Correction RELEASE AFTERNOON PAPERS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Paper for Presentation to a Medical and Health Group Session dur ing the SSth Annual Meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, in the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, Calif,, November 11, 1955. INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY f J. W. Hammond * ABSTRACT The objective? of industrial hygiene are the prevenlion of disease and loss of efficiency through the control of occupational factors which may affect normal people. In the past, industrial-hygiene practices were directed mainly toward the control of existing conditions. Today engineering control features are applied to potential health hazard., at the design or blueprint stage, and a number of procedures have been developed for evaluat ing problems which are not apparent or cannot be con- trolled at the design or development stages. Mod of the occupational and health hazards found in the petro leum industry are not peculiar to it, and the experience gained in other industries can be applied directly in evaluating and solving its problems. Representative ex amples of probable chemical hazards, their sources, and extent in major departments of an oil company are listed. introduction our washrooms and toilets in modern refineries as at Modern public-health techniques have allowed the present world to build congested industrial, business, and residential centers. The secret of this development lies in our control of communicable diseases. Benefits from control of the environment are obvious to everyone living in a modern community, where our food and water supply, waste disposal, insect-vector control, and genera) sanitation are guided by public-health principles. tractive structures, using tile and other suitable ma terials for easy cleaning and pleasing appearance. The petroleum industry has gone to much expense to increase the comfort of employees, thereby promoting mental and physical efficiency. Industrial management has recognized for years that, during the summer sea son, man's efficiency may fall and there is more need for vacation periods, and that recuperation from heavy- Control of communicable diseases in modem industrial physical and mental activities takes longer. Further communities has given rise to a new standard of living indication of the cost of discomfort can be noted by- in our homes. It has been said that there is no better ; examination of the degrees of civilization throughout yardstick to gage the culture of a community than that j the world, because it is found that civilization has de of basic sanitation. Today we have large groups of veloped to the greatest degree in the temperate zones. people working closely together in modern plants where This development is undoubtedly associated with the efficiency and production are greatly accelerated because ability to work efficiently, both mentally and physically. we have these controls. Communicable diseases have Last, but not least, we are interested in the control of been brought under control by a combination of medical occupational diseases. It is the control of these latter and engineering practices. Generally, isolation, vaccina diseases which we shall discuss for the next several tion, protection of food and water supplies, and limita minutes. tion of contacts and transmittal by insect vectors have Occupational diseases are not a new entity in the been the winning approaches. field of medicine and the ills of mankind. Greek scholars Occupational diseases are also controlled u> the appli lit 400 B.C. wrote about them, ahu daily aciemjst.s> ill cation of present-day scientific knowledge. The practice the field of medicine recognized the ills of occupation of this science is called industrial hygiene and industrial when seen in their patients. The materials responsible medicine. This field has many facets and, therefore, for these ills have been identified and measured in quan- ' requires the application of several branches of basic titative terms by toxicologists. A few medications have sciences, as does the control of infectious diseases. In been prescribed for some of these diseases, which today-' dustrial hygiene has multiple dividends to offer indus are numbered by the hundreds. The cure is generally- try, the same as environmental sanitation has multiple limited to prolonged removal from contact with the 1 rewards. offending agent. The only sure control of occupational Specifically, we also have sanitation for aesthetic disease is prevention. This is the science of industrial J reasons. The pleasure we derive from boating and fish hygiene or occupational health engineering. ing on our rivers, and from our beaches and parks, is Modern industrial hygiene had its beginning in the ; an example of the worth of suitable conditions in first decade of the 20th century in the U.S. Bureau of ' recreational areas. Also, for aesthetic reasons, we build Mines working in cooperation with the U.S. Public j Humble Oil and Refluine Co.. Houston. Te\ns. t Presented to a medienl and health group xi'-Mon during the SSth Annual Meeting of the American Petroleum Inst., in the Fairmont Hotel. San Franeieco. Calif., Nov. n. j!i".: presiding. M. J. Ratlibone. Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey i. New 1'ork, N. 1\ Health Service. It soon moved out of the experimental stage and became a practical tool for operating manage ment in industry to maintain the important assets-- manpower and human efficiency. r> U 0 O 30 18-0000887 2 Industrial Hygiene in the Petroleum Industry Objectives and Scope of Industrial Hygiene The objectives of industrial hygiene are to prevent disease and loss of human efficiency through the control of the occupational factors which may affect normal people. The scope of this science is to detect materials and physical agents within an environment which have health significance, to evaluate them in quantitative terms in relation to their effect on man, and to prescribe or design practical controls. To accomplish this it is necessary to understand man's limitations, his occupa tional relation to his tools, his physical contact with materials in his work, and physical factors of the chemi cal and material atmospheric contaminants of his work ing environment. There is no material too toxic to be used safely and, conversely, there is no material so innocuous that it can be ignored. Industrial-Hygiene Team An industrial-hygiene team, to be fully reliant, is generally made up of the physician, the industrialhygiene engineer, and the chemist. They must work closely with allied groups. Other speakers on this pro gram have ably touched upon the important part of the physician. The industrial-hygiene engineer is concerned primarily with field, studies, collection of atmospheric samples, making of physical measurements, and evalua tion of results in terms of effect on health and in the preparation of proposed control measures. The chemist is concerned with analytical work involved in handling samples, as well as assisting in the collection of them. Frequently he serves by supplying information relative to the toxicity of products or materials and the in terpretation of the field results. Industrial-Hygiene Practices Past industrial-hygiene practices have been directed mainly toward the control of the existing working en vironment where processes, units, and operations were well established. It has been necessary to play "catch up," and this has often made it difficult and costly to provide effective . control facilities. Today industrial hygiene has advanced to the point where it is realized that problems of environmental health will continue to increase as the "catch-up" approach alone is used. The best time to apply engineering control features to poten tial health hazards and factors in the working environ ment is at the design and blueprint stage. A good illustration occurred in a new gas plant. In the laboratory it was necessary to use mercury in the distillation units. Spilled mercury found its way be hind a laboratory bench and into minute cracks in the floor surface. From these places, its vapor rose to con taminate the atmosphere during the heating season while windows and doors were closed. It was necessary to replace the flooring with impervious material, and to relocate the furniture to allow cleaning behind each piece, to correct this moderately serious health hazard. Admittedly, it will always be necessary for industrial- hygiene personnel 10 spend a good portion of their time studying existing environmental conditions and to evalu ate them in terms of quantitative facts. The fact cannot be overemphasized that there are many obvious advan tages to the application of industrial-hygiene principles at the design stage. For example, control features are more acceptable and economical, and control features I built into the process are more efficient, than those ] added at a later date. Furthermore, when the control measures are part of the-original unit, no health hazard is permitted to exist even for a short period or until it { could cause harm. | One finds that design engineers usually welcome con| structive comments on anticipated health problems and \ control methods. It may be necessary for the industrial | hygienist to establish channels for receiving plans for | review, and it is necessary to stress the reasons for ! wanting them. It should always be made clear that the hygienist is in no way in competition with the design and development engineers but wishes to serve as a consultant staff member in a specialized phase. Usually f the information which he may supply to the engineering | group is: 1, how toxic the materials in question are; 2, whether it is a problem of inhalation or skin contact; 3, what the possible points of exposure are; 4, how serious the exposure would be; and, 5, what would be the best and most economical control methods. i Unfortunately, all problems cannot be controlled at i the design stage. Obviously, some problems will not be j apparent; but, if proper consideration is given to ma; terials and processes to be used, potential health hazards : can be predicted. For evaluation of new potential probj lems, as well as old ones, the following steps serve to j point out the procedures commonly followed by the in dustrial hygienist: j 1. Develop toxicity data on all materials used. 1 2. Determine quantitatively the atmospheric concentraj tion of toxic materials. : 3. Then, evaluate the health hazard based on recognized : limits or standards, commonly called maximum allow' able concentrations. I 4. Place exposed workers under proper surveillance, j 5. Develop, if needed, engineering methods of control. The evaluation of the environmental health of a plant may be accomplished in the following order: 1. Make a preliminary survey, which is an inventory of the health factors, and a list of all materials used. 2. Whenever toxicological information so indicates, make atmospheric tests. 3. Determine atmospheric contaminants and physical __factors of the environment in quantitative values. 4. Analyze biological samples (body fluids) where indi cated. 5. Make statistical studies of sickness records. 6. Occasionally, develop toxicological data and apply them to the other factors in the survey. 7. Carefully study possible correlation between environ mental and medical data. 8. Develop control procedures whenever indicated. G02303 18-0000888 Industrial Hygiene in the Petroleum Industry 3 This same technique may be applied to handle most industrial environmental health problems. The data, whether negative or positive relative to health, provide a definite basis for management decisions on the need for control. The experience of a unit with a regular painter points out the need for definite data. Surveys of materials used and methods of application showed no exposure to lead. However, the urinary lead indicated hazardous absorption. Inspection of the worker's off-duty activities disclosed that his exposure canie from his home paint shop, where he painted farm machinery with red lead for his neighbors. He stopped that exposure and was soon normal in lead excretion. Extent of Industrial-Hygiene Problems It is of interest that most problems found in the petroleum industry are not peculiar to it. Materials and occupational health hazards recognized in machine shops and maintenance work, and in chemical, metal, electronic, and other industries throughout the nation, cause the same problems. This is good news, inasmuch as the application of industrial hygiene is relatively new in the petroleum industry, and experience gained in other industries can be directly applied in the evalua tion and solution of its problems. A few representative examples of industrial-hygiene services to major depart ments of an oil company are listed in Table 1. Benefits of Industrial Hygiene Union and labor interest in fields of health and fringe benefits necessitate good liaison with official agencies. These agencies are state departments of health and labor, compensation boards, and other regulatory groups. One must be prepared to compare data for work areas in plants with their data. \Ye often find it possible to be of service to the sales department in preparing precautionary labels as to safe use of petroleum products. Other fields of service may be to customers concerning the safe use of petroleum products in their plants. This field is not static. It is dynamic; and, therefore, it is necessary to keep in contact with others in this field by participation in professional activities. Indus trial-hygiene activities extend the medical services out of the clinic into the industrial plant. They provide a mutual contact between the engineering and maintenance group in the field and the physician. Conclusion To summarize some of the benefits which arise from an active and constructive industrial-hygiene program: It provides facts regarding working environment; it prevents, or reduces to a minimum, occupational dis eases; it reduces compensation costs; it demonstrates company interest in health and welfare; it permits control of hazards before injury is done to employees; it assists medical departments in protecting employee health; it serves as a clinical diagnostic aid; it reduces lost time caused by illness; it reduces employee illness costs; and it provides most effective and economical control of hazards. Industrial hygiene is a natural evolution in the en lightened, resourceful industrial world. It is another practical tool of science used to increase the efficiency, lower the cost, and maintain higher standards of living in our free-enterprise system. Today management recog nizes that no longer is manpower cheap. Slight losses in efficiency are important. Summary In the broad sense, any program of environmental health or industrial hygiene is one of preventive medi cine. For many occupational diseases there is no satis factory medication; the only method of control lies in prevention. There are certain medical and engineering principles which can be applied to the working environ ment to enable an industry to locate and eliminate work ing conditions which are likely to cause illness, lower production, and the like. Modern industry, especially the petroleum industry, accepts the responsibility for the health of the worker while he is on the job, and it is willing to institute the necessary steps for adequate health maintenance. It needs to be guided in the ap proach to this goal. 00230.) 18-0000889 4 Industrial Hygiene in the Petroleum Industry TABLE I Examples^ of Industrial-Hygiene Services to Major Departments of an Oil Company Department Material Lead Refining ' Mercury J Benzene i Dust (silica) Dust clay Carbon tetrachloride r Mercury I j Lead Insecticides Production .............................. . Benzene Carbon tetrachloride 1 Herbicides I Noise Solvents (petroleum) (Hydrogen sulfide Carbon monoxide PiPeline .................................. ! Solvent vapors Degreasing solvents Bitumastic coating Exploration r Carbon tetrachloride j Mercury | Benzene iFluorinated plastics (Crude oil Law ................... ..................< Industrial waste vAir pollution J(Mercury Research and development. . Carbon disulfide I Nickel carbonyl (Radiation agents (Cutting oils Sales...................................... -j Solvents '-Lead oxide Unit or Process [Painting j Doctoring 1 Welding and burning (Gasoline finishing (tetraethyllead) (Laboratory J- Meter and instrument shop 'Pilot plant ( Hydroformer -j Laboratory '-Dewaxing ("Lubricating oil (Reclamation Contact treater Electrical Meter Geological Gas testing Painting Camp site Paraffin removal Core analyses Field maintenance Drilling Drilling ("Pump station (Gaging Pump station Pump station Maintenance Pipe doping and painting Core analyses Core analyses Cable shop Electrical Claim Claim Claim Reservoir laboratory Laboratory Catalyst Reagents Customer shops Customer shops Paint plant Degree of Hazard Severe Moderate Severe Severe Moderate Moderate Severe Slight Moderate Severe Moderate Moderate Moderate Severe Moderate Severe Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Severe Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Severe Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Severe Severe Severe Moderate Slight Slight Moderate Severe Severe Severe Moderate Moderate Moderate Severe 002310 18-0000890