Industrial hygiene OSHA limits

OSHA requires employers of workers who are occupationally exposed to 2-butoxyethanol to institute engineering controls and work practices to reduce employee exposure and maintain it at or below pennissible exposure limits (PEL). The PEL for 2-butoxyethanol is 50 ppm (OSHA 1974). Workers exposed to 2-butoxyethanol should wear personal protective equipment such as gloves, coveralls, and goggles to protect exposure to tire skin (OSHA 1974). NIOSH recommends that industrial hygiene surveys be completed at work places where airborne exposure to 2-butoxyethanol or 2-butoxyethanol acetate may occur (NIOSH 1990). If exposure levels are at or above one-half the recommended exposure limit (REL = 5 ppm), NIOSH recommends that a program of personal monitoring be instituted so that tlie exposure of each worker can be estimated. If exposure levels are at or greater than the REL, or if there is a potential for skin contact, NIOSH recommends that 2-butoxyacetic acid be measured in the urine of the workers. 

Coal Tar Products. In an industrial health survey of employees in a wood preservative plant in which coal tar creosote, coal tar, and pentachlorophenol were the main treatments used, cardiovascular effects, including increased diastolic blood pressure, were noted in 21% (24 of 113) of the employees examined (TOMA 1979). Industrial hygiene surveys of coal tar pitch volatiles at this and three other wood preservative plants indicated that airborne exposure to benzene-soluble components of the coal tar pitch volatiles was within the OSHA permissible limit of 0.2 mg/m3 in 94% of the samples (TOMA 1979). The other 6% of the samples ranged from 0.21 to 3.6 mg/m3 (TOMA 1979). Nevertheless, no clear relationship could be established because exposure routes in addition to inhalation (e.g., oral and dermal) were likely. Also, the ability to relate cardiovascular effects to coal tar creosote and coal tar exposure was further confounded by the possibility that the subjects were also exposed to other chemicals including pentachlorophenol and cigarette smoke (TOMA 1979). Additional limitations of the study are noted above (see "Respiratory Effects"). However, in another industrial study, an increase in mortality from... 

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