Document 7MwbkaeY4ZG0jYVDqaV5p3zR6

FILE NAME: BF Goodrich (BFG) DATE: 1947 DOC#: BFG025 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Report - National Safety Council Transactions Ill $ <3 'S * 8 8 U'ABLF. Suggested MA.C. looo (Gasoline' too 400 5 5 > v. 1^46. ^ 7 NaZo^^E t^ L Vol2 ^ Rubber Section 19 Health Protection in the Rubber Industry: Engineering Control By WILLIAM E. McCORMICK Industrial Hygienist The B. F. Goodrich Company With very fev exceptions, the industrial health hazards of greatest import to the rub ber industry are those accruing from inhala tion of toxic vapors, dusts, and fumes, and from skin effect of various compounds. We have learned much during the past few yean with respect to the proper handling of these materials. It is not so much now tire question of determining the "know how" for safely using these items, as it is to nee to it that accepted control measures arc !>eing used. From the standpoint of number of person nel, exposure to solvent vapors seems to constitute the largest health problem. For tunately the bulk of the solvents used are of the less toxic type. T he control measures which can be generally used arc substitution, enclosure, and ventilation. Substitution is the replacement of a toxic material with a less toxic one without loss of productivity. As an almost dassic ex ample the replacement of benzol by le s toxic solvents -- particularly petroleum dis tillates in the rubber industry--might be mentioned. There are very few cases where the use of benzol as a solvent a "muit." Usually less toxic ones can be found. Numer ous other examples can be died such as the use of trichlorthylne or perchlorethy1ene in place o f more toxic carbon tetrachloride, tetrachloreihanr, or ethylene dichloride; also, the use of ethyl in place of methyl alcohol, ft should be remembered of course that the mere substitution o f a less toxic compound for a more toxic one docs not in every case solve the health hazard. Additional control measures may be required. However, it is the first method which should be investigated. Very frequently enclosure or even com plete isolation of a hazardous operation can be effectively used as a control measure. Mechanical ventilation or personal protec tive equipment may be required in addition. Recently my company had occasion to han dle, on a pilot plant scale, one of the more toxic compounds. It was found that the. con struction of a small temporary building com pletely isolated from the remainder of the plant, was the safest--and cheapest--method of using the material. The process was car ried out in a dosed system, but the isolation was necessary as a precaution in case of ac cidental leaks. Many chemical manufacturing operations, fortunately, can be completely enclosed. In many cases the use of elevated pressures makes this mandatory and, thus, to a large degree controls any health hazards. The type of control one finds most fre quently and I might say promiscuously prac ticed, is that of exhaust ventilation. Unfor tunately it is often used incorrectly. Its use involves more than just locating a wall fan in the general area and moving a large vol ume of air. Each process involves individual study, and the type and amount of ventila tion needed should be carefully determined. By this method the contaminant can be con trolled at its source--a " must" in many in stances. Even in those cases where general ventilation might be adaptable, the use of local exhaust ventilation is often indicated due to its utilizing a much lower quantity of air. T lie added initial cost is often cheaper in the long run due to lower heat losses and lower power consumption resulting bom less air exhausted. Only a careful study of each individual! process can determine this. Any industrial health control measure should be instituted on the basis of certain basic industrial hygiene engineering prin ciples. . It must control the hazard. This re quires a thorough study of the process involved, including the raw materials, the products and by-products, quantitative meas urements of atmospheric oontaminama. and duration of exposure of working personnel. Our present knowledge of industrial hygiene enables us to say that any known health hazard a in be controlled. It a 1 question of adapting the proper measures to the specific problo. Vo bctr proof of this Lilian the manufacturing processes related to the atomic bomb is needed. No evidence of health in jury to any employee of this vast project has been observed. x. It must be economically practical. The .> !' f ' v A + ?"! > 'IV , 77.