Document DDvZGoMQORNKR1owON3DrVb64
May 9", 1986
THE
DOW
CHEMICAL
L*4f.r (l*.f,or-r
( )(<
COMPANY
MIDLAND. MICHIGAN 48674
S. L. Dombrowski Asbestos Task Force 2020 Building Midland
cc: B. E. Jenkins, B101 Freeport T. F. Campbell, 3502E Plaquemine F. D. Axe, 471 Pittsburg L. W. Rampy, 1803 Midland S. K. Norwood, 1803 Midland
L 'i SSIOOI
ASBESTOS EXPOSURE INFORMATION FOR CHLOR-ALKALI RELATED OPERATIONS
SUMMARY
Exposure data with respect to airborne asbestos fibers in the U.S. chlor-alkali related plants were compiled. Included manufacturing divisions are Texas, Louisiana, Western, and Michigan. The summary dates back to as far as 5 years, or more for some plants. The potential long-term (more than 1 hour) personal exposures to airborne asbestos fibers ranged from 0.014 to 0.46 fibers/cc on the plant average basis with an arithmetic mean of 0.10 fibers/cc on a total data basis (N=501). Geometric means from the same data base were less than 0.05 fibers/cc for 7 out of 9 cases on the plant average basis. The total number of personnel working in the chlor-alkali related productions in the Dow U.S. locations with potential exposures to asbestos are 308 as of May, 1986.
PURPOSE
Data regarding potential exposures to airborne asbestos fibers in chlor-alkali and its service plants were compiled to respond to a request of Dow asbestos task force. The compiled data base will be used as part of documents submitted to the EPA for the exemption of asbestos use in manufacturing the diaphragm of chlorine cells.
DATA BASE
The data used in this summary include all the monitoring results obtained mostly within the past 5 years at the chlor-alkali plants and the related service plants throughout Dow U.S.A. manufacturing locations: Texas, Louisiana, Western, and Michigan Division. All the
RESTRICTED pOR USE WITHIN THE OO* CHEMICAL COMPANY
ST00756l>8
S. L. Dombrowski May 9, 1986 Page Two
divisions except for Michigan Division have currently operating chlor-alkali plants. Where there were few data within the scope of the past 5 years, old data dating back to 1974 for Michigan Division, 1978 for part of the Texas plants, and 1979 for Western Division were included.
Types of monitoring data include area and personal monitoring results with personal monitoring results divided further into groups of long-term potential exposures and short-term exposures. The "short-term" in this summary is defined as less than or equal to 1 hour.
The use of respirator was included in the summary as much as reported in the original documentations.
The number of employees presented is the current number of the people who work in the chlor-alkali related plants with potential exposures to asbestos. The number excludes those whose job is clerical or secretarial at the plants, for example, but includes any other plant personnel who may in fact have no contact with asbestos. It is estimated that approximately one quarter of the total number of personnel have real potential of exposures to asbestos.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The monitored activities include debagging, drawing, pulping, and washing inside the cell service plant, transportation, storage, and housekeeping. A large portion of monitoring conducted at the chlor-alkali plants included pulping cells. Pulping is the task of adding asbestos to holes in the cell.
The summaries of the monitoring results are shown in Table 1 through Table 4. Both arithmetic means and geometric means were calculated with their related statistics. Arithmetic mean is greatly biased in representing a typical value for a group when there is a few large values in many small values. The values showing less than a detection limit assumed a value of half the detection limit in calcula tions .
It should be noted that different analytical procedures for asbestos were used. Louisiana, Michigan, Western Divisions used a phase contrast microscopic method while Texas Division used a a Reichert Zetopan Optical microscope using Normarski interference contrast. The fiber detection capability of Normarski interference contrast could be less than a phase contrast.
Short-term sampling often focuses on exposures during short-term tasks which potentially expose employees to higher concentrations of
ST0075 6li 9
S. L. Dombrowski May 9, 1986 Page Three
asbestos than the background concentrations* For this reason* exposure measurements less than 1 hour needed to be classified separate from the long-term personal exposure data which better approximate time-weighted average (TWA) 8-hour exposure value. Use of respirators was more frequently documented in short-term exposure monitoring than long-term monitoring.
Respirators were worn during many short-term potentially high expo sure tasks. Therefore, the exposure data presented should be interpreted as potential exposures.
The results of Louisiana Division asbestos monitoring were pooled based on the last 3 years and the last 5 years. In all the categories, the potential exposure levels for the la6t 3 years showed improve ments .
The current number of personnel working in the chlor-alkali related plants are summarized in Table 5.
Tsune Kawakita Industrial Hygiene Laboratory 1803 Building (517) 636-8236
n
O'
rO ao co O' rsa co
u
2*u<w*->
O. v91 II o
cS ^
I
o o
oo
o
u A
TABLE 1. POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: Texas D ivision (1978-198^)
ST0075650
m(Nl
<NJ O'* rg <nj P0 <NJ CM
oo
^m4
roo
oin
mrsj
o
in O
o
oo
in oOo' ooo o i<ond* org
o
m o(Nl
o H
o
o
a* N
r<N-J
eg
CoO
m
o
V
<f
s1 pg
o o
eg o o1 o
rg
m o H
o o ao O
m (M o
O1 o o
Oo'
I o
o o o
aa
BH c5o H
^ w0>0
pC to
CO 04
to 04
(0 4> 4) V o*4 hU m*
XXX V 4> V VV u u fcl
> u
t
VU O O
4) CO
4) V CO OT
pa*
c _o
>sH o
h VJ a
u 4)* a
h V <> a
u e V 2 A >> p' >>
o OOooOOO
rt
_.3
0*,
A V o
u2
0c
RC} Aw V
Voe4
c* m
-0o5Uos oa
aau
D. 5aS<nBo 3
S'? - <4
a Si! O O V
S228
^alcuS
^ ao.c C
c
a
H
>
V
TJ
G0 a <o
(0 -2G c,, xgj ai
S>
B * M"
5-0
o
*4
w
f*
o
H <J M
1-0 V
aS
C2
0s
issi
< <n o o z
rt J3 y X)
TABLE 2a. POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: Louisiana D ivision U981-1985)
in
pHi H
PM
pH% Oi
CO pH
pH
>
pH pH
rH
pinH pH PM
*H* Q** pH
CO pH pH pH pH
*
ipnH PJ
V PM
pH
* O
CO PM pH *
pH H pH
>
ipnH
PM
r*H*
PM
p
> O
CpHO PM
ppHH*pH
ko ^
kw
E*
cn
0*
PM m
PM CM
mr-
4)
Z
Om'
O'
PM
O'
CM
t--
sO PM
m
in
CM
r-
in ro
00 o 00 o*
cn in CO ro
uu
rM
o
N0
OPM
o*
pH
ro
in
pH
O
00
o
JO
ooo
m
CM 00
co
O'
PpHO
f-
cn
o
A Tx
PM
O'
pH
o
co
00
o
CO
in
o
PM
O
vO PM PM co 00 PM
cn sO
O'
r
c<4
l
o
os o
I ion
HI
o
o
t
oion
ini in
OI
in
oo
o
4J
aa
y--s pC
ap <d H
WIH
Oft ^to
w
Ui
10 < Ck Ck Ok Ck Ck 0k
0) o > Ck it
w
Q
p
u
> k
Hu >
a a
13
u V
<
.5
c
Ok 10
CO
w pH
k F0M
k H0
k POM
t o
IS TS X .e X X
o OOOoU o
k fi
<d
k
pC T3
H
oC
V
S
k
H 2
3uo T3
o
^E ^ O
C
V
aMM aPM
,,EcE<o .
a" o
3 g0 s0 iQs. O* 5Ik SV* t)
u t> 2
< a, cu
> box
Co
>0) T3
c g o !A3 PH g* c 'U Ck <4 *2 *2 C E
10g > 2 A A
S< 6
H mW *UH .a o k kik
1^E p2
5c Jh (* P Si k <h <WOOZ
PH PH ^H A JO U TJ ww
CO
CD
O
cn
cn
cn
TA B LE 2b. PO TENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: Louisiana D ivision (1983-W 85)
0" m
PO
ao
m OJ
m ^4
sO
o rsj
2H
TD "'q o r**
O O'* CM m
o (NJ "4 rO PO m m
O
uy
o t-
O'
mm
ou w
u2
PO o
O
O* *"4
O
H
eg O
nO o
4) o o o o o o o
-DH VM
c O' CO rsj
*4^0 X
4* nj
w
vD
o
[NJ
o
o
o*
CO
PO
o
o
pn m
o
o
o
o rsj
o
C
O
Txu
crws <9 O n
o <\J
Q0 ,N|
t*.
PSJ rO o
a* <nj
in o
in rH
o o ^*4 o o o o
40-
(A
&
(A
>o N
fS3
CO
m
%0 cn
<
bC 'f
o
i--4 4
o
<vj
o <
C <0
i-H o
m
t ^4
in o
<NJ
in o
1
a: o o o o o o
ooo ooo
"
aa
J3
fi >
.m* cs -i
>W
v/2 <
W ^04
S"w 04
04
w 04
04
CO 04
_04-
C d
5*
(A U U
*>
*4 4) W
03 a up4
> >4 4> W
>u*4 > h V
H 13 X
< i
*4 T*
< i
u
V
c
*n
V
cp4 h
o 0
o 15
**4
t>
A
A
2
2
u O O o u L>
u
x.
o 4-4
.-4 0# ~3 C4 cr J5
pH C4 0
G_ ra C A J5 4-4 -
4-*
a,,
h 01 .w2
'S.'S.
..SB > rt rt a* * E "2 -3 4*5 io C g
00 M QB 0) Zu u Zv v < 04 04
Q^go^c WWW
s
44 (H4 > d> u
c ?
4JoS (Qh--a CrtC^g-
> 2*3
a-S s *
- o .a *o
b 5 h C4
83 g V |li!l
K^ D S 3
N, ^
4*-^
i A U XJ 0
w -W w
w
ST0075652
TA B LE 3. POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: Michigan D ivision (1974-1^84)
ST0075653
4>
rCM
t*PM
P(M
o * >
c4)
>0 CM
m3 PM
nO PM
hUv*
4)
PM
*** PM
m PM
OS cn m M1 CO co oo
PM PM PM pm PM pm
*O
+*
^_
U^
a[Q tuo
4) D OS
o rc---
oo
o o
D 2 vo
^ PM
in 00 in ao
o O PM
uu vr*O- o m
4>4)
o o on
ooo
PM
j3
GO CM *(-Q on
+4
VGU
G0 U
m
m
CM
ton l*
CM sO o
m
m
oo ^4
PM
(A
41
.0<0 <
om
O'* CM
4)
QC
G(0
mi
o
ol
o
Mml*
o
PS o o o
e- ON
oo CM
O mI
*
rt
3
cr
g J+G4 X2 Wa> JT3 SCc> =4to> 0*!
iJ J} 0
a p3
v i3 a . "5. o
"<3 "3 H " 'JJ L <n C G ~
ooa
4)
"
h
qi
U 4) 0>
< 04 04 *
-- *--N ^ oox Q
a
o
q. a
HH co H
^ js
w00 --Vt0 04 04
CO Cu
I4Qi
*U4
>u4) CO
utVo u>
4)
CO
tVo **4>4) CO
< <*I4
jj
TJ
<t
(4
<>oI
o 4) 2 2 A oUoUaO
<1 J3 O O
TA B LE 4. PO TENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS: W estern D ivision (1978-1905)
ST0075654
ro m
*
r~t rg rg
ro PO cO *
o p-H
fO fO *
o <\J ro eg
s~
m
Hw
nO. V
v3
K
M X
1 T3 iu
,V
'E ! o3
o I T3 i 1 <->
O
a
-w
MX C
C o (9
>
V V
(9 X U "0 4)
TABLE 5. NUMBER OF PERSONNEL WITH POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS (MAY, 1986)
Division Texas Louisiana
%
Western Michigan TOTAL
Process Cell Services V Chlorine Oyster Creek Cell Service
Chlor-Alkali
Chlorine
Cell Repair Plant Closed
Number
97 83
13 Dow 18 Contractor
32 Dow 2 Contractor
38 Dow 2 Contractor
23
0
308
ST0075656
REFERENCES
1. A10-2416, Texas Division, 1983, 2. B6-1995, Texas Division, 1980. 3. A13-1742, Texas Division, 1979. 4. A13-1989, Texas Division, 1979. 5. A50-1686, Texas Division, 1978. 6. B22-2057, Texas Division, 1981.
\
7. Industrial Hygiene Update 12-82, Oys'isr Creek Division, 1982. 8. OCD-1I-195, Oyster Creek Division, 1982. 9. Industrial Hygiene Monitoring, Oyster Creek Division, 1983. 10. Asbestos Monitoring data, Oyster Creek Division, 1984. 11. LAD-IH-86.01, Louisiana Division, 1986. 12. LAD-IH-84.02, Louisiana Division, 1984. 13. LAD-IH-84.03, Louisiana Division, 1984. 14. LAD-IH-83.01, Louisiana Division, 1983. 15. Results of the bi-annualasbestos survey in the Chlor-Alkali II, Cell Service
and Chlorine Plants, Louisiana Division, 1983. 16. Results of the bi-annual asbestos survey in the Chlor-Alkali II, Cell Service
and Chlorine Plants, Louisiana Division, 1982. 17. LAD-IH-81.08, Louisiana Division, 1981. 18. Semi-annual asbestos survey--cell service block, Louisiana Division, 1962. 19. LAD-IH-81.07, Louisiana Division, 1981. 20. LAD-IH-81.09, Louisiana Division, 1981. 21. Semi-annual asbestos survey--CA II plant, Louisiana Division, 1982. 22. Semi-annual asbestos survey--Chlorine Plant, Louisiana Division, 1981. 23. HEH34.21-21-5(8), Michigan Division, 1984. 24. HEH34.21-21-3(16), Michigan Division, 1981.
25. HEH34.21-21-3(6), Michigan Division, 1974. 26. HEH34.21-21-3(12), Michigan Division, 1976. 27. HEH34.21-21-3(9), Michigan Division, 1975.
28. HEH34.21-21-5(5), Michigan Division, 1979.
29. Summary of asbestos sample results. Western Division, 1985.
30. Industrial Hygiene survey for asbestos at Cell Repair, Western Division, 1981.
31. 1979 Airborne Asbestos Measurements made in the cell repair area, Pittsburg, Western Division, 1979.
32. HERW-027-1, Western Division, 1978.
ST0075657