Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: CHEMICAL

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to: a) Employees were exposed to the hazards of Methoxy flurane present as a waste anesthetic gas while performing spay and neuter operations. The employer did not provide adequate controls during the periods of administration of methony flurane in order to reduce occupational exposure to waste gas. An employee was exposed to high levels of methoxy flurane thereby being subjected to serious health hazards such as: 1) Adverse reproductive effects including spontaneous abortion and congenital abnormalities in offspring of exposed personnel; and, 2) Kidney and liver disorders. A veterinarian performing spay and neuter operations at the Boulder Spay/neuter Clinic was exposed to methoxy flurane at a time weighted average (TWA) of 2.4 parts per million (ppm), 1.2 times the recommended limit. The sampling was performed for 367 minutes on April 2, 1987. Zero exposure was assumed for the unsampled period of time (113 minutes). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that methoxy flurane be controlled so that no worker is exposed to TWA greater than 2 ppm. Among other methods, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this hazard are: 1) Replace the old Ohio chemical and surgical equipment company anesthetic machines with new, state-of-the-art anesthetic machines which have scavenging systems which are more capable of controlling waste gases and which can be serviced more readily. 2) Assure that the scanvenging exhaust system has no leaks in the connections and corrugated tubing. Eliminate loosely taped connections on the tubing with proper fittings and eliminate the blue plugs in the exhaust lines which allow the anesthetic gas to escape back into the workers breathing zone. 3) Turn off the anesthesia when an animal is not being prepped or undergoing surgery. 4) Increase the fan velocity for scavenging system and ensure its utilization during prep and surgery. 5) Perform preventive maintenance on anesthesia equipment at least quarterly. 6) Employ an on-going air monitoring program to prove effectivenss of the control measures. ABATEMENT SCHEDULE STEP 1: Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering and/or administrative measures to control employee exposure to hazardous substances as referenced in this citation. This plan shall include, at a minimum, target dates for the following actions which must be consistent with the dates required by this citation: 1) Evaluation of engineering/administrative control options; 2) Selection of optimum control measures and completion of design; 3) Procurement, installation and operation of selected control measures; 4) Testing and acceptance of modification/redesign of controls, All proposed control measures shall be approved for each particular use by a competent industrial hygienist or other technically qualified person. STEP 2: Abatement shall have been completed by the implementation of feasible engineering and/or administrative controls upon verification of their effectiveness in achieving compliance.