Document b5Dx8Ozk5Km438G45GZ1xpY9k

FILE NAME: Goodyear (GY) DATE: 1982 Jan 26 DOC#: GY056 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Government Inspection Report Investigating Work Conditions for Claimant 52nd ALL-OHIO SAFETY CONGRESS & EXHIBIT APRIL 20-22, 1982 Jomes A. Rhodes Governor The Indusmol Commission of Ohio Villiom V. Johnson Choirmon W Go-oZimpher Vice Ciioirmon Leonord T Loncosier Member xSVOURSAF ety up to A* ATTITUDES R E S ^ Division of Sofery ond Hygiene Philip A Workmon Supennrendeni Dob Mey Assisonr Sopennrendent lowrence J 'Vholen Coxjress Moncger January 26, 1982 Legal Section Industrial Commission of Ohio 246 North High Street Columbus, Ohio 43216 Attn: Judy Spencer 0D# 18506-22 James Priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Akron, Ohio 44316 Risk SI002351 Manual #4410 Dear Ms. Spencer: A visit was made to the offices of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company located at 1144 E. Market St. Akron, Ohio 44316 to determine conditions under which the claimant had worked. The company currently manufactures rubber industrial products, chemicals, wheels, rims and aerospace products. Passenger tires are no longer made at this location. A research and development -technical center is replacing the Plant 1 manufacturing facility. There arc currently 8 thousand total employees at the Akron m a n u f a c turing complex with approximately half of that total being hourly employees. Mr. B. E. Young, Compensation Manager, and Mr. Paul Bankovich, Industrial Hygienist were contacted. The claimant's job experience with the company is as follows: 8-17-30 1/4 2 8/42 10-14-42 1 0 - 1 (> - 4 f. 10-1-17 3-5-59 7-1-72 Continuous hire date, Plant 1 Shectmetal apprenticcman Banbury mixer Plant 2 Shipping department Plant 3 Shipping department Plant 1 Shipping department Plant 1 Tube department Reti red Banbury mixer No medical records were available. According to Mr. Young the Plant 1 banbury mixers were not current ly operating due to construction of the new technical center, and the plant 1 tube department was also no longer operating. It was felt that the other departments in which the claimant had worked i.e shipping would not entail contact with materials capable of causing his respiratory condition. ` f I SS3S2SSBBB '.............. . i ' i in i iim . . I i .ii ' in ir i' 'im O.D.# 18506-22 James Priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Page 2 As a banbury mixer operator the claimant would feed raw ingred ients (rubber, fillers, extender oils, accelerators, antioxidants) into the banbury mixer. This internal mixer breaks down rubber for thorough and uniform dispension of the other ingredients. The claimant alleges exposure to various Justs including iron oxide and carbon black (synonym: lamp black). According to the claimant a bright red powder, allegedly red iron oxide, was used as a pigment for master batches of rubber used to make pink floor tiles. Mr. Young contacted Mr. R. Heldridge, the current Chief C o m p o u n der who indicated that the time interval made it impossible to state what materials the claimant may have used as records no longer exist. A literature search found a typical list of components used in the man ufacture of rubber products published in the March 1952 issue of Industrial Hygiene Quarterly. (Enclosed) Red iron oxide is listed in this table as a color pigment and carbon blacks of various types are listed under reinforcing fillers. The inhalation of iron oxide fumes or dust may cause a benign pneumoconiosis (sidcrois). It is probable that the inhalation of pure iron oxide docs not cause fibrotic pulmonary changes, where as the inhalation of iron oxide plus certain other substances may cause injury. * The threshold limit value of 5 mg/m^ was set a: a level to p r e vent the development of x-ray changes in the lungs on long-term exposure.- Diagnostic signs and symptoms include benign pneumoconiosis with x-ray shadows that may be indistinguishable from fibrotic pneumoconiosis.-5 There arc no well demonstrated health hazards to humans from exposure to carbon black.-5 The morbidity and mortality rates of workers in a plant engaged in the manuf acture of carbon black over a 17.5 year period (1959 to 1956) were not significantly different from these of the general populat ion. O.D. *18506-22 James Priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Page 3 ' Repeated inhalation by monkeys caused deposition of the dust in the lungs with minimal or no fibrous tissue^proliferation. Repeated exposure of the monkeys to 1.6 mg/m^ for a total of 10,000 hours produced electrocardiographic changes interpreted as right atrial and right ventricular strain, probably a result, of mas sive deposition of the dust in the lungs. The threshold limit value of 3.5 m g / m -5 is set at a level considered to be safe for carbon black exposures. There have been no diagnostic signs or symptoms reported.^ Carbon black is one of the most common particulates since it con stitutes 351 of the material added to the banbury and it is also in powder form, while rubber which makes up 501 of the tire mixture is handled in large blocks. In the tube room the claimant worked as a balancer, weighing tubes to check their weight. The claimant makes reference to silicone. Silicone is a synthetic polymer. It is beli eved the claimant is refering to residual silicone mold release compound deposireu on the tire and tube surfaces. When the rubber-was huffed to apply a patch this material would become airborne. S o a p s t o n e ,zinc stearate and talc are also known dusting agents. A review of the toxicology of the silicones in 1961 pointed out that in addition to their low or negliblc toxicity by all routes except the eye in some cases, the hazard by inhalation is also negligible because the vapor pressure in most silicon fluid vapors is quite low. A How Corning 555 fluid administer ed as a s p i a y to rabbits as a 2 * solution, 50 seconds twice daily for 90 days, showed no sign of irritation or foreign body reaction in the lung. Similarly, a fog of silicone antifoam presented to animals for 2 hour;; resulted in no pulmonary edema or other harmful effects.' Zinc stearate is employed chiefly in the rubber industry as a dusting and mold-release agent or lubricant. Observations in the rubber industry have rcvcaied no adverse effects from many years inhalation of zinc stearate dust. It is classified as a nuisance particulate with a threshold limit value of 10 ing/ m -1. - u u u ? :.U O L if. ;* ><*- ' '. *. .r-vfi-'-iVV*k?v;.r-' r O.D.#18506-22 James Priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Page 4 In contrast to fibrogenic dusts which cause scar tissue to be formed in the lungs when inhaled in excessive amounts, so-culled "nuisance dusts" have a long history of little adverse effect on the lungs and do not produce significant organic disease or toxic effect when exposures are kept under reasonable control. The nuisance dusts have also been called (biologically) "inert" dusts, but the latter term is inappropriate to the extent that there is no dust which does not evoke some cell ular response in the lung when inhaled in sufficient amount. However, the lur.gtissue reaction caused by inhalation of nuisance dusts has the following characteristics: (1) The architecture of the air spaces remains intact. (2) Collagen (scar tissue) is not formed to a significant extent. (3) The tissue reaction is potentia lly reversible. Soapstone does not have a precise mineralogic definition but is of variable composition dependent on its source; talc is mined as soapstone, but some forms of soapstone have as little as 5(U talc. The fibrous talc in soapstone dust causes fibrotic pneumoconiosis and an increased incidence of cancer of the lungs and pleura. The threshold limit value for soapstone was set at 3 mg/M-' respirable mass and/or 6 mg/M*1 total mass, to prevent systemic effects. Diagnostic signs and symptoms include'cough, dyspnea, digital clubbing, cyanosis, basal crackles and cor pu lmona lc. The non-asbestos form of talc, also 'termed non -f i1)runs has not been proven to cause the effects produced by exposure to fibrous talc. The threshold limit value of 20 million particles per cubic foot or h m g / M -'* was set at a level to prevent lung effects. Diagnostic signs and symptons include productive signs and symptons include productive cough, wheezing, signs and symp toms of chronic obstructive lung disease.'1 A search of the Division of Safety and Hygiene files indicate the following surveys at Goodyear by I.ester Merritt, Industrial Hygiene Engineer. 2-15-49 Plant 1, Building #11, rubber compound ing dept., cutting and weighing rubber, impinger sample, 3.2 million particles per cubic foot "most of the dust in this portion of the plant would be talc or soapstone." Ft 0 . D.# 1S506-22 James Priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Page 5 2-15-49 2-15-49 4-5-49 1 1 - 1 -I - 5 0 11-1-1-50 Plant 1, tire dusting area, midget impinger sample 29.6 mppcf "spraying a liquid material containing talc or soapstone on the inside of the tire casing.... dry talc was wiped on the outside." Plant 1, #4 tube machine, 5th floor, midget impinger, 5.2 mppcf, operator transfers tubes from extruding machine belt to a belt leading to the splicer also inspects and sets rejects to the side. "The dust in this area would be primarily talc or soapstone which emanates from the inside of the tube, as a coating of talc is sprayed inside the tube at the time of extrusion". Plant 2, Banbury mixer -feed er area midget impinger 5 minute sample, weighman 55 million particles per cubic foot. "Most of the dust would be talc which emanates from the sheet rubber at the time it is tossed on the scales". Two batches were weighed during the period of sampling. The rubber and other components are left in the machine (banburv mixer) for approximately 2 1/4 minutes. The machine operator and one helps weighs the compound ingredients. Approximately 350 pounds of rubber and 12 pounds of compound compose a bat cl). Mi 11 room, moving boxes of rubber, oxides, clay, sulphur, lampblack etc. to small batch mills. "At the time of the visit, the writer estimated that there would he from 3 million to 10 million particles ol dust per cubic foot of air in tnis area. None of the ingredients used in this department contained free silica. Most of the dust would he talc or soapstone." Cutting small samples of rubber from the sheets produced by the banburv mills. 3rd floor. The writer estimated that the dust in this area would vary from 5 million to 15 m i llion particles per cubic foot of air, most of which would be talc. 0.D.#18506-22 James Priest The Goodyea r Tire and Rubber Co. Page 6 Part III in a series of four reports on the health effects of respirable particulate exposures in the rubber industry focused on Respiratory Morbidity in Processing W o r k e r s . 0 Respiratory questionnaires and pulmonary function tests were ad mini stered to 65 men exposed to dust in the processing area from three rubber tire manufacturi ng plants in 1972 and 1975. Similar tests were done on 1S9 "control" workers. Compared with the controls, the processing workers had a higher prevalence of chronic productive cough. Overall the processing group showed a decrease in the ratio FEV j q to FVC. The processing workers with more than ten years of exposure showed a significant decrease in the ratio FEV 1-.o/FVC, the FEV i o. the residual FEVi.o, and the f1o k rates at 50* and 25S of tne forced vital capacity. None of the pulmonary function effects could be solev explained on the basis of smoking, age, ethnic, or socioeconomic factors: all were related to the length of exposure. Based on these results the authors concluded that exposure in the processing area (compounding, banbury) produces pulmonary disease.o Another case control study of 4502 male, hourly rubber workers actively employed at the Akron plant of a large unidentified r u b ber company on January 1, HH>4 was identified and followed for 10 years during which tine there were 75 pulmonary disability retirement cases. Emphysema was the principal pulmonary condition requiring premature termination of employment clue to disability accounting for 55S. When compared prop ortional ly with the Social Security Administrations approved d i s a b i 1ityrctirements for all industries, the rubber industry demo nstra tes an excess in d i s a bility retirements attributable to the pulmonary diseases, more specifically emphysema. Pulmonary disability retirees spent sig nificantly greater lengths of time employed in curing preparation, curing and the finishing and inspection work areas. Each of these work areas involved exposures to either particulate matter or solvents or both. Significant risk was associated with a smoking rubber workers' exposure to dust and fumes, generally, and talc and carbon black more specifically. Exposure to mixing, extrusion, curing preparation, curing, finishing and inspection, service or reclaim operations was similarly associated with an excess in risk of developing a pulmonary disabi lity retirement for smoking rubber workers. Interactive effects of occupational ex posur es were noted for smoking and expos ures to mixing, extrusion, curing preparation, curing, finishing and inspection, service and reclaim operators, dust and fume exposures generally and carbon black more specifically. 0.D,*18506-22 James priest The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Page 7 I As can be seen from the list of typical compounds used in the rubber industry (enclosure), the investigation of the possible relationships between work environment and disease in a chemi cally Complex industry such as the rubber industry is very difficult. The work environment of the rubber industry is very diverse in its physical and chemical exposures. Many organic and inorganic chemicals are used or have been used in the past; there are many jobs and processes with qualitatively different exposures. The search for possible causal relation ships between occupational exposure and disease is difficult considering both the diversity of environmental agents and internal job mobility. The problem is compounded by the lack of information on environmental exposures to agents used in the past, which would be of particular importance in studying chronic diseases having long latency periods. In conclusion, a disease is occupational if: (I) The medical findings of disease arc compatible with the effects of a disease - producing agent or agents to which the worker has been exposed; (J) There exists in the w o r k e r s 'occupational environment (past or present) exposure to an agent or agents sufficient to have caused the disease; and (3) The weight of evidence supports that the disease is of occupational rather than non-occupational origin. Respect fuily submi tted , / John Mollis Industrial Hygienist Jll/nh enclosure: Components used in the manufacture of Rubber Products ; Bib]iographv Bibliography 1. NIOSH, Occupational Diseases: A Guide to Their Recognition, DHEW 77-181, U.S.GPO 1977. 2. ACGIH, Documentation of the TLVs for Substances in Workroom Air. e d 4 , Cincinnati, 1980 3. Proctor, N . H . , Chemical Hazards of the Workplace, Philadelphia: J.3. Lippincolt Co. 1978 4. Ingalls, T.H. , Periodic search for cancer in the carbon black industry. Archives Environmental Health 2: 429, 1961 5. Nau, C.A. , Physiological effects of carbon black IV Inhalation, Archives Environmental Health, 4:45, 1962. 6. Fine, L.J., Studies of Respiratory Morbi dity in Rubber Workers Part III Respiratory Morbidity in Processing Workers, Archives Environmental Health, 31: 136-140 Mag 1976 7. Stokinger, H.E., The Halogens and the Non-Metals Boron and Silicon, P a t t y 's Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology 3rd revised e d , V o l . 2B p.3041. a S. Lednar, W . M . . The Occupational Determincnts of Chronic Disabling Pulmonary Disease in Rubber Workers, Journal of Occupational Medicine Vol.19 No.4 April 1977 p.263-26S. i v.\