Document QJRBr0v479MG6dOJL1vee93b4

E t h y l Ga s o l i n e Co r p o r a t i o n M ANUFACTURING A N D TR A FFIC D E PA R T M E N T PLEASE ADDRESS REPLY TO:*P.O.BOX I2*71 W ILM IN GTON , DELAW ARE February 9, 1942 Dr. W. F. Machie Kettering Laboratory University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Dr. Machie: Thank you for your letter of February 2, attaching copy of your blender survey in comparison with fifth floor conditions. I want to have the opportunity of studying your report carefully, after which I shall be pleased to pass on to you any necessary comments. Very truly yours C:LS N9529 y D e c e m b e r 2, 19^ 1 Survey of Hygienic Conditions in the Blender Object To e x a m i n e into the s tate of -fefee- h e a l t h of /blender^ U i t t u -.... .... ..... ;... . '' <__ "\ U*~ workers,, f o r the year 19^ 1/and t o d e t e r m i n e w h e t h e r has a-l-tar-od- m a t e r i a l l y in t h e east f e w 10 U j U # Z-Lu. / years. . T^,anc.fttpl-is:h---4vh-i the c l i n i c a l and a n a l y t i c a l records of the rrour were studied on /f v-. <L c o m p a r i s o n with,'"5th f l o o r w o r k e r s /' a time base and. by nouns/i " z-tu/LUJ,:/ employed w ? the same ' r-eriod o i -- trinev" ' . Coucl usions (1) The state of h e a l t h of b l e n d e r s is a r p a r e n t l y w o r s e han at any time since 193^+ (^) As m e a s u r e d by the rate of o c c u r r e n c e of a b n o r m a l clinical findings, there has been a progressive trend toward incre a s e in e x p o s u r e since 193^* y. (^3 y* Jche c h a r t e d rates o o are s t a b l e i t is obvious that no ^ihtain-improve CO il* rent has o c c u r r e d since 193^- Tvroc^o m - Qu- (^) The r ate of o c c u r r e n c e of -^o s i-t-ive- c l i n i c a l f i n d i n g s year period has been less than that for the 5th Floor group. no i n s t a n c e in e i t h e r g r o u p do the 'ates., f o r > VA 19^1 reach the 193k levels. (6/ The p r a c t i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e of the r e c e n t i n c r e a s e in the b.lender must be estimated on the basis of the clinical status of the workers. (7) The lowest r a t e s of a b n o r m a l i t y are a s s o c i a t e d with the longest service. (6) The p r e s e n t s i t u a t i o n is not the r e s u l t of c u n u l a t i ^ g U e f f e c t s of years of e x posure b ut is an immediate response to recent irregularly recurring and for the most part brief exposures of increased intensity. (9) T h e r e is no p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n the amount of drumming (which has remained relatively constant) and tie occurrence of abnormalities in the blender group. (10) The most l i k e l y e x p l a n a t i o n for t h e i n c r e a s e in e x p o s u r e in 1 9 ^ 1 is t h e i n a u g u r a t i o n of t h e 6 - h o u r cycle and the increased throughput 3- (11) Twenty" per cent, of b l e n d e r s w e r e not w o r s e in t ^ ****** ^ JcM A a *. 194-1 t h a n in 194-0; 0 0 > jaaiufe shed, m o r e a b n o r m a l i t i e s in the '-'jl.ast year. Procedure The data for this memorandum were taken from the clinical records of the Dye Works Hospital, and the analytical records of the Kettering Laboratory. To effect comparisons on an annual basis, the frequency of occurrence of abnormalities was converted into rotes in each e x a m ination i|pf>the group under study, the modes '/ of expression being two-fold: as/number of examinations `A equired to elicit one abnormality, and the number (or fraction) of abnormalities encountered in a single examination, The criteria by which abnormalities were judged as follov/s : (1) S u b j e c t i v e (a) H e a d a c h e - o c c u r r e n c e in h i s t o r y (b) G-.E. t ract d i s t u r b a n c e - o c c u r r e n c e in h i s t o r y or report of occurrence on dispensary card. -* - (c) I n s o m n i a or dreams';-- re p o r t in h i s t o r y or d i s pensary card (d) W e a k n e s s , i n c o o r d i n a t i o n , etc. - r e p o r t in history or dispensary card. (2) O b j e c t i v e . (a) H e m o g l o b i n - a n y v a l u e less tha n 76% f\. A ( j _l,; r-~--disd (b) E r y t h r o c y t e s - any v al u e less t h a n h s300,000 (c) H y p o t e n s i o n - a n y v a l u e less than 100 s y s t o l i c or 65 d i a s t o l i c (d) H y p e r t e n s i o n - any value above lH-5 s y s t o l i c or 90 d i a s t o l i c (e) Albuminuria. - any o c c u r r e n c e (f) U r i n a r y lead - any v a l u e a bove 0.1 5 m g . / l i t e r Cg) F e c a l lea d - a n y v a l u e above 1.00 m g . / s a m p l e . (h) B l o o d l e a d - a n y v a l u e a bove 0.0 5 m g . / I C O gm. (i) S t i p p l i n g - any v a l u e above 2 C / 5 0 h.p.f. (j) P a l l o r - a n y o c c u r r e n c e For purposes of rough comparison the rates of occurrence of abnormalities in both groups were computed for the total 5- - number of men in each. Following this the rate for each group was determined by years and study was made of sub divisions of each group divided on the basis of 5~yeaF periods of employment. The mean age of each group was cal culated^ sard .rrenirps^ed-. The incidence of hypotension, low erythrocyte counts W /tl/Q and l o w h e m o g l o b i n v a l u e s -werrg d e t e r m i n e d by y e a r s for eac h group on a rate basis by w y o a r o since these observations 'ere in our o p i n i o n the m o s t s i g n i f i c a n t o b j e c t i v e c l i n i c a l findings recorded. Results In T a b l e 1, the r ates of o c c u r r e n c e of a b n o r m a l i t i e s in the b l e n d e r and ^ t h Floor vrcrricea?er m a y b e c o m p a r e d -wirth-" A Cj i)<-L Q.sOC& J.j& t t A -y i- ea-etr-oPhtrr^an d.. duration of employment. The two large groups are comparable from the point of vie w of age as may be seen from inspection of the m e a n v a l u e s f o r age giv e n in T a b l e ! Mor e over, :,he d i s t r i b u t i o n of m e n on the b a s i s of d u r a t i o n of employ- nent was in general the same in both sets / the ' 6. . . -- " 5 t h F l o o r groupi-/, howev e r , t e n d i n g to c e n t e r s o m e w h a t .core closely about the mean with too few men employed for lees than 2 years to make up a satisfactory group for comparison. The overall rates for each group were not greatly different, b e i n g h i g h e r in the case of t h e 5 t h F l o o r e mployees. 'Ht It is a m a t t e r of c o n s i d e r a b l e i n t e r e s t to n ote that an / inverse relationship exists between the number of years o f / w o r k and the f r e q u e n c y of a b n o r m a l i t i e s . That is to say, men who have worked the longest have been freer of symptoms than those working less than two years. This finding [AM increase establishes that the recent innsma in abnormalities is not A the result of accumulated injury and exposure, for if this were the case, the higher rates would be associated with the l o n g e r timas of service. It is a l s o a p p a r e n t that this r e l a t i o n s h i p is %. s p u r i o u s Sr re suit of recent Cs2 '-O sm- s t e a d y in c r e a s e in e x p o s u r e (except p o s s i b l y in the 1 - O o 1.9 yr. group) s i n c e the 10+yr. g r o u p inolra&e-s. the year 1 9 3 ^ (Fig. 1) in w h i c h the r a t e s w e r e the h i g h e s t encountered, AW 0 The r a t e of l a b o r t u r n - o v e r h a s b e e n s u c h that if co\ild 7 lot influence the results over the long tine-base studied, since by far the greater proportion of the men had more than 9 vu-ars of service in their respective operations, data >::i the few short-time emolovees previous to 19*r0# Ir'-'nu . , o i ... ' /: ' ; teen tliis study. It follows, therefore, that e are dealing v;itb a bona-fide phenomenon in which employees period of exposure manifest the greats;. ----- ----- ----------\ j r , i iron its no" ential effects. m a y ^ e r h a p s | attribut se men a ,;;c nave/on - y* n-e s t c-eriod of training in _the op-eration.i /> ;Idhfpem >; ie c o n c l u s i o n that the i n c r e a s e d r ates In l/'ll v ere of chance, desultory exposures isj further borne out by the finding that the increases in rates in 19M-1 were distributed at r< co .o i blender/ without A r -* * relation to the number of peers of employment, further o o o supportive evidence emerges from -jra-snftctinn ~* r ? the analytical results given in Table 2. Prior to 1935 or 1 9 3 *^a-JEUw- bb::p] os twined from the men/Eo^ac oura tely^ portray the co ndit ionsj^fowever, since-till0 t imci.the mean results for w**,--? - - abnormalities surprisingly well. Several other interesting c o n s i d e r a t i o n s are a o r a r e n t f r o m the figu r e s in T a b l e 2. First, fecal lead excretioryas measured by the amount of lead found in a single sample of feces^does not correlate w i t h the y e a r - t o - ^ y e 1* d i f f e r e n c e s in r a t e s of o c c u r r e n c e of a b n o r m a l i t i e s s e e n in the b l e n d e r group. This is t-e - b e- anii'ci^a^4d' in v i e w of the fact that ef sporadic high e x p o s u r t o the vaocrs of T.E.L. and not to dusts. On the other hand the relatively constant 4 Arate of fecal, e x c r e t i o n in the F i f t h F l o o r m e n is. tftHrhat w i t h a s i m i l a r r e l a t i v e ^ u n i f o r m rate Sap'' ' abnormalities^ as w o u l d be a n t i c i p a t e ^ : f r t W ,*TttE^at?4iwA j a a 4 : i < exposure Ma-this group is m a inly to 1 cois- In neither group do the fecal excretions reach 2\ n rt&****tAm~* |p' >: - v a l u e s t h a t GJZ&-*usuA<a . c ^ n a l d e r b d 'tn -hheeJx&icJAnijc^ * O ajgJiiXlnaa^ev- o - hi :; ; .i W ihi---tha..,Qt he.r,,,han4,|bhe me an 'u r i n a r y l e a d e x c r e t i o n (expressed in terms of concentration) has been significantly lytA. oJ^* - ^ t " ^ *" Pi 3w^*f*4-S'-the cl i n i c a l o bservations, p a r t i c u l a r l y in the / j L j OeeaJiLi^b, b l e n d e r r o u p v/here tda^r-P Vi w v p n^piiT-pq^ s t e p - w i s e i n c r e a s e s y i n .p^t-O and 19^-1, b a n d - i n - h a n d w i t h the i n c r e a s e s in r a t e s of a b n o r m a l i t y . ( v e r t h e entire per i o d of bov.u k i ,~phe a-;-cr&^,j correlation is not as close, as-- In- t^-eshe-- yea-es. Yfhen t-he~ an-nlyt leal re s u i t s -a-re-seea-r-a-te-i---inrt'-o-- t \ oi^ni r. q n ^ v - ~ a , n 4-- i`OTl '*5&&4.alr-t+tiwpio.s, It be seen that the closest , c ^ . w ryt^,~< ft-Jv AA~n.. *.. * ** t>X.- / /C*? oo -raw a l i e n vTMua*^4#^e*e-4sas' / fe*- ai-i a 4V* A' V This is to be e x p e c t e d .s ' slew of the s e l e c t i o n involved, since special sampl es are .he m a i n o b t a i n e d f r o m c a s e s of s u s p e c t e d i n t o x i c a t i o n or following k n o w n e p i s o d e s of e x posure. It w o r l d appear, however, <._ ,v,V;-. J^u. C.'J,y O.C--V; i? -*TC'. that -* c l o s e r c o r r e l a t i o n w o u l d be ob ta-bae-d if u n i f o r m ' p r a c t i c e s had been followed regularly throughout the period of study. That is to say, if o v e r the e n t i r e s e v e n - y e a r period, s a m p l e s r/ & -eun. LTD : r \ t QiUUUL (M-t r> o b t a i n e d r o u t i n e l y from. presented an undue CD <"D '] 'iiA-if CiM.lt, C D n u m b e r o f .a b n o r m a l i t i e s a n d V t h e s e f i n d i n g s w ^ kk?' due to lead absorption, one would expect to encounter a very close association between the rates of abnormality and the magnitude  y j CO 'O o CO w 10 of the lead exposure as measured by the excretion, failure <f) dlfr--3>J 7t* % A4?t hj'} to ob t a i n _a c l o s e r correlatlon.-.iaa-y_-bA expJ..ained by t he n o n - iZ-i*, lfc*$ U^y ^ A- itt^ruJ -sp^^i^-i-e--iaatrur^-"ei--i/hrr~abnorTimliriri`e^-'and-~p.eiiliap.aTMii.Q.,,..a--da&r-ee^ ', *r t h e h i g h o v e r a l l levels of exp o s u r e . S i n c e we ` are d e a l i n g a <. I' 3 ^ /i ith -m fe p l u m b i s m -e-- cases of acute, unmistakable 't / -- &&&&, the only/ e v i d e n t e Aunifin w h i c h cornole te vrr>i?c r e l iance m a y be p l a c e d is that o b t a i n e d f r o m th e :ical data. I n v i e w of this' r tC ii] le : v i-e- l. .t. e aV--- ( -Ce-rfe iv^dr-'dri-te- o b & e r ^ '^yrrt rt*j , C 3 Z .ni a.l *? ^ ^ ^t-- any-^yne-"'t imo., it w o u l d s eem d e s i r a b l e to comb i - e greater frequency of spot (special) sampling, w i t h the routine r e c o r d i n g of s e v e r a l items- in the c l i n i c a l data. This s t u d v can be carried out on a few men in each oneration/ men being "& selected who have had the higher rates of abnormality or the greatest uotential exposure or both. ), On the assumption that conditions within the blender had b e c o m e w o r s e s ince 1939 t h e c l i n i c a l d a t a analyzed to determine which of the observations best portrayed the trend. ~ tla >*""** B e c a u s e of l o w f r e q u e n c i e s and n o n - r e l a t e d occu r r e n c e s , it 11 the trend s u f f i c i e n t l y w e l l conooivnfrly* to be u s e d as indices. Those are t a b u l a t e d in T a b l e 3 I t is e v i d e n t that h y p o t e n s i o n is the b e s t c r i t e r i o n of- t foe-.t^inee-'rrtrtraiy^, since the o v e r a l l rates for hemoglobin and erythrocytes were too low to permit itintion. o> i not assumed -s. that v> ata would not achi e v e s i g n i f i c a n c e as indices v'ere the intiens -_Q_dse made mo r e f r e c u e n t l y . re as su. ges t e d those observations be made routinely on the nan set.acted r special study, with the idea of throwing light upon this 'o in t, Discussion From a practical point of view the foregoing results may be reviewed in the light of future demands uron the lead plants and blender. Close year-to-year correlation between amount of d r u m m i n g and rates of a b n o r m a l i t y is not found a l t h o u g h o b s e r v a t i o n raid e x p e r i e n c e have this p r o c e d u r e t-s-- be one of the m o o t h a z a r d o u s in the blender. A n y r e l a t i o n s h i p that -acruiXCS-d w o u l d ten d to be o b s c u r e d b y f\ A r,r* . the s.light a n n u a l d i f f e r e n c e s in n u m b e r s of d rums and the A y i t j m i ', fuMxuC cuud i u & y; necessity of treating the data on a yearly basis. ,Accordinglyi C .ClAlA. * '* f l u c t u a t i o n in e x p o s u r e f r o m n o n t h / t 6-/month w o u l d not a p p e a r ''' I w O from these figures and since any, effects would be noted within ,/ H s, an even b r i e f e r tine interval, it w o u l d not be a n t i c i p a t e d that c o r r e l a t i o n on a y e a r l y b a s i s w o u l d saca-s-e err il y follow. For the same reason neither do the quantities of T.2.L. produced per year relate themselves to the abnormalities in any close fashion. It is s i g n i f i c a n t n o n e t h e l e s s that sudden i n c reases in p r o d u c t i o n of F l u i d (such as that w h i c h o c c u r r e d in 193I}.'and ' 1939) are a s s o c i a t e d w i t h i n c r e a s e s in c l i n i c a l X -{J . , Fart of the inc re a s e in r ates of a b n o r m a l it i ^ i s u n d o u b t e d l y 1, 1 due to the addition of -men and less w e l l - t r a i n e d men, in large part, however, it is the .result of increase in expo s ur e tZ- since all men manifested the effect. -In/light/of this fact . . A __ I J . , ' / rU wevffia^ v i e w w i t h c o n c e r n a n y increase in iettd* production, especially that w h i c h involves an increase in the amount of drumming. The lead hazard has been well controlled over a 13 -oeriod of years, but the i n c r e a s e in "ttf b l e n d e r ^ in 19a-l,. the a n t i c i p a t e d l o a d for Ijk-S^&nd the age h-tl u ' U a , of the existing c a s s i tya-ail s u b s t a n t i a l i m p r o v e m e n t in the e q u i p m e n t >-fcha. -bierrdt^ as soon as nossible. Ji. E. Evans, M. D. W i l l a r d Kachle, li.D. U-; f >\ :i j1; j 4 K 0 vJ v < 5 $ Tabla 1 .A o n o m a l t i e s D u r in g 12- Y e a r P e r l od 10 30 - 1 ; 3-1 B1cr id ar H-roup ( 25 " J e n ) - ...1-i O - J -V!1 i lio. i \ i !` 1 !r. . 3 Pac A r c i o c u a l i t y 3 *I -aa. O" A. ` f .j. .1 _( i].-A.'W,Vi_- .J\."r'<\*A'V--^> v iW J!-'..SO-it./\ Pat e/Bxa:n 0.323 0 .0 13 0 . 3-76 0 .0 12 -, vA-nO- 4-. o . 036 0 77- i 0 .0 53 _ 0.053 n i:.-' t + 0.028 ^V> PO A _ i i j ! : ! i- -. 7 _ -i ^ 2. co . 4-2_________ ,% )7 0.0 lo ............ " _.. ... Ue^CO _ 0 .0 2 5 i ,, 3 7 1, o . oU-3 1 si o, fpp --+ 0 .0 2 3 AAA UvU < oU 'ear 9-4-1 ?40 .'99 ?3S 37 5?6 41 40 59 53 37 3, 0s Table 2 lead Sxcretioni of Blender and Fifth Floor Men f Vi7 (Urino - mg./L.; Feces - mg./sample; Blood - mg./lOO ml.) Blender Special Samples Urine Feces 0.16 o.l<5 0.12 ^_ 0.33 0.66 0.14 o. 16 0.25 0.33 O.OOo 0.27 Quarterly Samples Urine Feces 0.09 0.12 1 0.10 j 0.10 0 . 3 5 .. 0.51 0.43 0.30 0.10 o.4o | 0.14 f ! 0.10 0.64 0.39 A l l S'ample s Urine Feces 0.14 0.13 0.11 0.11 0.35 0.51 0.43 . 0.32 0.13 0.15 0.09 0.36 0.60 0.36 | Blood 0.050 o.c46 0.042 _ _____ j j _________________ 0.13 0.13 0.10 0.10 o.i4 0.16 0.07 .... Li_ ,^_ 0.22 0.59 o.6o 0.46 0.91 Fifth Floor 0.07 * .<< o.4l ' 0.07 o.4i 0.09 0.34 0.10 0.46 0.06 o.4o 0.06 0.36 0.06 0.36 0.10 0.09 0.10 0.10 0.09 '0.12 0.06 o.4l o.4i 0.32 0.47 0.43 0.36 0.43 . 0- 5 .. fJ c ' .1,4 O . i - ,, I l A., , . o.o45 0.036 0.035 i _____ j | ." f ji i i K & 0007761 Table u r~ Rates of Occurrence of Specific.Abnormalities for the Past Four Years ;v *n Blender 4i a r 1- c - i :io a:sien i c -. Fryth. - *hi-yr- yi r l . . 1! r \ -j- ' ! : V* `-- t- j__ c_j_o i oQ3 I 0 .177 0 . 0J 1 e, irp 0.001 All Atnorm. o . 545 0.165 o .4oo Hypo tension 0.139 0.154 0.175 0.264 Fifth Floor Ht - 76^ Sryth. - ^.5 M. 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.02 0.001 0.01 0.02 All Abnorm. -OalSL _ i i 05_ 0.575 0-354 \ { 00G7762 Slender -ifth Floor Table 4- r \ r~: i-iUc. iA- ( t-L'(// '~>J '' ' ' ' mean Age 36.17 3?. 33 Sigma + 6.71 +_ 5 * 0 0 P.E. 0.94+ 0.56 0007763 !' 9,:.!,OCO 3 H O * "T"-* j \\ sz. ' . V \ \ ' \ \ \ \ `v. -w "f-- :---------- ! . nO o o