Industrial Hygiene Recognition of Hazards

Laboratory Exercise : Toxicology Resources

Objectives:

This session is intended to familiarize students with some of the toxicology resources available on the Web. After this session, students should know about Web resources for:

• Technical and detailed toxicology information

• Non-technical toxicology information, suitable for workers and the public

• SDS databases (formally called MSDS, but now SDS)

Assignment (due Wed the week after lab, and before class to be on time and avoid a 20% late penalty):

• Complete exercises using Web resources - fill in the information and submit it to the instructor.

• Submit a short (1-2 paragraphs) report summarizing this lab, word-processed and spell-checked. Don't discuss the mechanics of the lab, rather explain how you benefited (or did not benefit) from it. For example, will you use these resources for future classwork or employment situations?

Web Activities:

I. SDS databases

Suppose a lab worker is concerned about theFisher reagent-grade acetone (99.5%) he is using and wants to see the SDS, but the lab's copy seems to be missing.

This section will explore several ways to find SDS documents on the Internet

A. Using the search engine of your choice, search for "Fisher Reagent Grade Acetone (99.5%)" SDS.

1. What site did you find the SDS (MSDS)? ________________________________.

2. What date was it created? _______________ .What is the latest revision date and revision number? ____.

3. What is the CAS number? ____________ 

Note: CAS Registry Numbers have a built in checksum. To calculate the checksum, number each digit from 1 to N, starting at the second last digit and progressing to the left.

Then, multiply each digit by the number you assigned. Add the sums, and take the units digit. This unit's digit should match the last digit of the CAS number.

B. OSHA has specific requirements regardingSDS (MSDS) providers.

iii) concerning the appropriate source for SDSs. Where can you get an SDS if one wasn't included with a shipment of hazardous chemicals? ____________

C. Go to the ILPI site.

How many free MSDS sites on the internet do they list? ___________________________

D. If a manufacturer is not listed on a site like this, you can then use an internet search engine.

Use a search engine  to find"Dumond Chemicals". NOTE: Search engines may try to direct you to a supplier, not the manufacturer.Find the SDS for Peel Away 1.

What are the hazardous ingredients in this product?______________________________________

E. Use a search engine to find the Savogran website (the manufacturer) and find a MSDS for Strypeeze Originalaka Original Semi-Paste Strypeeze (paint stripper).

1. What is the first ingredient listed on the MSDS? ______________________________________

2. What is the name OSHA uses to refer to this chemical? (Use osha and search for this chemical) ______________________.

II. "Non-technical" (plain English) toxicology sites

Assume an employee is worried about perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) residue in clothes that have been dry-cleaned. This person needs general information about chemicals. MSDSs and toxicology information may be too technical and/or inappropriate.

A. Go to the ATSDR ToxFAQ page and follow the menu to tetrachloroethylene and answer the following question:

What are the common industrial uses of tetrachloroethylene?

B. Go to the Environmental Defense Scorecard page  and search for the perchloroethylene scorecard.Look under Hazard Ranking and follow links until you get to the Human Health Effects Score (UTN):

MSDS information is cryptic and brief. Employees often are interested in more data, and in an easier to understand form.

C. Visit the New Jersey "Right to Know" page , and follow the alphabetical listing to find acetone. What is the first recommendation for Workplace Controls and Practices?

D. Go to the INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL SAFETY CARDS (ICSCs) page and look upthe card for acetone.Under the PREVENTION column, what is the recommendation to prevent ingestion?

E. Go to the NIOSH Pocket Guide to Hazardous Chemicals and look up sodium hydroxide. What are the target organs for this chemical?

III. Technical toxicological sites

Sites with information on carcinogenicity:

A. Go to NTP's Report on Carcinogens and search for ionizing radiation.

Answer the following questions from the Ionizing Radiation Report:

1. Workers employed in uranium, hard-rock, and phosphate mining potentially are exposed to _______.

2. How many lung cancer deaths are caused by radon exposure in single-family homes per year? What is the report's cited source? ______________________.

B. Go to IARC's home page . Search forMan-Made Vitreous Fibers.

1. Locate "The Monograph" to determine IARC's carcinogen classification for refractory ceramic fibers:__________.

C. Visit EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and look up asbestos.

1. What is airborne asbestos concentration equal to 1 in a 1,000,000 risk level for lung cancer or mesothelioma? ____.

2. Dement, et al, found 2.8 increase in cancer risk for textile workers exposed to _____ fiber-yr/mL.

Other sites with detailed toxicological information

D. Visit the National Library of Medicine databases and select/find the Hazardous

Substances Data Bank, HSDB.

1. Select HSDB and look up acetone. According to the "Environmental Fate" section, the atmospheric half-life of acetone vapor is _________ days.

2. Find the TOXNET database. Search for "acetone", how many entries are there under the TOXLINE database?

3. Go to theChemIDplus database and find the chemical name for water glass: _____________________________________. [Select "Names and Synonyms", to find out more about this chemical.]

E. Go to NIOSH and search for tetrachloroethylene 78-112.

NIOSH document 78 112, states "it is prudent to handle this chemical as if it were a____________".

The following sites are not too technical in nature, but they provide a refreshing look at the position of carcinogens in our diet:

F. Go to the HERP site

1. What is the %HERP cancer ranking of 229 g of beer (based on the alcohol content)? __________.

2. How does the risk for historic (1940s-80s) methylene chloride workers compare with beer?

G. search "carcinogen found in broccoli" and list it and the website used.

1. Which carcinogen is found in broccoli? ________________

Attachment:- Lab-IHResources.rar