Hanford Environmental Health Foundation Monthly Report, February 1968 (Deleted)

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HAIIFORD ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH POIJ?!NDP.TTOW MONTHLY REPORT, FEBRUARY, 1968 1.1 Staff discussions ver i held concerning long term planning for the Foundation's act iv it ie - s related to training programs ,research ad development projects 2.1 b-sits - b was a visitor on February 8th. i s 3n Associate Drofessor inthe Department of Biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina. memory transfer investigations and related CNS biochemistry was discussed. visit cr on February 2 , 1968, as a member of the Washington State Heert Association. He also visited Radiosurgery. Arrangements were made for him to visit Donald W. 3ouglas Laboratories and Bh7.i a i ology Laboratories. 2.3 QELEJEO " , Weshingtcn D.C., Consultant on the AEC Health Study ,University of Pittsburgh were visitors on 2.4 Offsite - On Feb ru wy 13, 1968, Dr. Crook accompanied J. Hicks, AEC Health and Safety Division on a visit to the Puget Sound X6yy Ship Yard Industrial Health Clinic and Hospital and on February lbth,Dr. Crook visited the Sandpoint Navil Air Station and Pier913ispe ~ aai - ies. purpose of the visit was to acquaint naval personnel with the Radiosurgery training sessions proposed. Slides were shown, the Furpose of the fk c ili ty discussed and 2.5 .4 visit was nade by recruiting practices,particularly with minority grouy members; mutual research with the School of Business and Department cf Psychology; and minority group problems with the Dean ofthe School or' Business, the Director 01' Undergraduate Programs, and the Director of Graduate Programs, as well as the Clinical Department of the Department or' Psychology. A discussion was held also with the coord in ht or for minority problems atthe University. 110 success has been achieved yet in recruiting summer help. to the University of Washington to discuss 3.1 Examination requirements of ?mployzes working with lasers was discussed with has been visiting operating facilities of DUN inthe 300 Area t o No changes were made in our routine procedure. better orient himself' with employee job assignments and work environments. 3.3 There were three definite and one suspected malignancy found and referred to def'i c i ency . One employee was found t o have peripheral v escu lar

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A total of 897 examinations were done, 60 of these were for preplacement, 336 periodic, 339 interim, 86 recheck and 76 termination. Proctosigmoidsco pic examinations were done on 10 employees and oc cula r tension exd nations on 217 employees. To further his orientation made the following visits : February 2nd, ne met with GUN Management and toured the 100-H Maintenance Facilities. On Ffbruary 14th, he rnet with lrlanagsnient of ITT/FSS Trans9ort ation and Maintanance and toured their facilities. On February 21st, he again visited ITT/FSS facilities in the morning and that 'afternoon he visited their laundry ana aeconcamination facilities in 200W Area, and on February 28th he visited the Transportation Section at 6 a.m. t o see how they start their day, particularly the bus service. He also visited DUN 100-F shut-down reactor and other facilities in this area. An emDloyee i n ARHCO received askin contamination of plutonium nitrate on February 4, 1967. Several injections of DTPA were given and the bio as say indicates that some absorption had taken place.c pnlzczzry res usc it ht is nat a safety meeting of BNU i n Bldg. 325. ' participated in the demonstration of cardioDELm de non st rated cz r dio - pla one ry resuscitation at a meeting i n Purex, P-RHCO on February 2 1 s t and talked t o a group of BNW employees i n Bldg. 326, Dr. Crook participated in the demonstration of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation t c t;rs grcucs of T"T/FSS emgloyees in the Federal Sldg. on Pebruary 15th. There were 180 employees who attended the two sessions. Bentcn Franklin District Health Department, the or ge niz ation,objectives and functions of HEIIF. He also presented to the Dr. Crook attended the breakfast roeeting of the Richland Chapter of the Health Physizs Society to hear Ib.Stig Bergstrom of Sweden discuss one of the reactor installations. He also attended the film "Titan Missile Disaster" and with Thc Bildmose Audiometric equipment, which was recently received as replacement of previously purchased equipment is below acceptable standards. March 6this the tentative date set t o do an autopsy inthe Radiosurgery Facility on 5 iog from BNW Biology Department. 'The ;&Luronaiy irilialtrtion pliasc of tlli! Promethiurn Study is at a st und still awaiting the development of an aere sol generator to produce specific size droplets for 4.1 On February 12th, DELETE* returned to full duty from extended sick leave. 4.2 '' OELErED was placed on restricted work because of continuing physical problems resulting from the DELETFD .. By doctor ' s order, she has been off duty since February 26th for treatment and further diagnostic

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4.3 Six illness absences and three excused absences accounted for 134 absence hours, necessitating 80 hours of overtime work. Lady of Lourdes Ho spit d, on February 2nd, regarding the current plans for continuing education for nurses a t Columbia Basin College and the f enter for f the Special Education facility 4.5 For the nurses meeting on February 28th,a on George Washington Way was conducted by fc cult y. Couuittee I was in charge or’ the Safety and Security Meeting. 5. RECORDS AND STATISTICS 5.1 Personnel for 14sdical Records and the AEC Research Project remained the same. 5.2 Medical apDrovals ,transfers and record reviews Feb. Month Date Record research from stored rzcords 2 42 280 522 k d ical clear m ce apgroval 1.m inter - Approvals for special work 31L Transfer of records to other G.E. plants3 Hospital charts lotined 0 5.4 Medical Staff Assistance Staff Physicians were given assistance through the performance of clerical and semi-technical services as follows:

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Programming and scheduling resulted in completion of 123.6% for the month and 115.1% of the year ' s estimated quotas for Audiometric hearing testing Visual field screen tests Offering of and handling of appointments for special examinations Tetanus immuni zhti oris 13 7 Whole body counts 122 106 5.6 Medical stenographic services Preparation and distribution of employee letters of examinations Notice of imnpaimrnts 249 216 limitation(27 new, 43 cont. 19 discorit) 89 64 Notices pertaining to work 5.7 Procurement of reference materials and research assistance was provided as follows : Journal subscriptions renewals 0 3 University of Oregon 2 2 6.1 The number of individuals seeking counseling during February remained at a high,but not significantly different, were down 3%, possibly due to the shorter month. New cases came primarily level compared t o January. New cases

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from occupational medicine or self referrals and, as is usual,the majority (48%)were situational stresses having t o do with fairly immediate and concrete problems. No particular pattern of problems could be ascertained but the frequency of mild emotional disturbances,those which represent 813 obvious impairment of functioning, was elevated (19% of the new cases) which may be significant of coming climate problems. continued at or returned to work; 4% were hospitalized or went on medical to outside resources. The mean contact per person for counseling cases was 1.05 (down lug from January). 4outside sources consulted on 4individuals, and 21 managers consulted on 15 individuals. Other managers also consulted on safety and reliability,research and testing as well as climate problems. These figures are slightly lower than the January figures but appear t o be higher than February, 1967. Of those seen for counseling, 92% 10% of the group seen for counseling were referred Occupational medicine consulted on 5individuals, Ofthe 50 preemployment applicants, 54% were referred for either elevated NSQ score so roth z r aspects of the medical examination. Although these referrals were up 125% over January, only 11%had tobe interviewed-and all were accepted. Follow-ups will be made on 7% of those referred. 2on - site talks were given t o 110 in divi du hls on safety arid reliability and reporting on the Safety Climate Review Program, 3off - site talks were given t o No new research studies were initiated.Previously collected data was going through some factor analytic reviews. The data is being organized for pltint reports and technical publications. The preparation and completisn of reports study is providing some evidence, based on a preliminary analysis,that there i s some relationship between tibsenteeism and scores on the NSQ. The relation - ship still is not clear however. Shown below are the monthly figures for January and February and totals through date. The csntinu+d elevation of the figures still remains confusing and may represent a danger sign. The lower frequency of the health options compared to functioning prc-jbler~~sa lso may represent a poorer work cliinate. The work climate does appear poor but it does not appear t o be attached to any specific or concrete CGnditiGnS. Since problem drinking also appears t o be slightly I,the recommendation i s made that management tighten up its a ho in is tr at ive and maintain appropriate leadership rather than become lax and permissive. TOTALS %CVGE TO DATE Counseling Cases 104 --- 103 IJC 207 Func t i on ing 58 53% 68 -15%

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Total Individual Contacts 6. Occupational Medicine Cases 7.1 Forty-five air samples and 38 smear samples were taken at NRD Fuels inthe beryllium monitoring program during February. the Hanford surface contamination criteria. One of the12 occurred ina nonberyllium zone. All routinely scheduled air samples were below the beryllium Threshold Liit Value. Twelve smear samples were above The 333 Building stack sample3 was below the AEC limit 7.2 Tunety-Seven samples were collected at the 333 Building end welders. s mp les were requested by the NRD Quality Control group after odors were noticed at the end welding chamber. welder chamber were arranged to collect the majority of welding hes 5scaping Further sampling indicated concentrations of TLV magnitude close to the welding The first air samples taken atthe end This sample resulted in a concentration of 35 ug/m . DUN has modified the ventilation on the end welders t o improve the

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The SFn.1 Safety Specialist requi.sted air and smear samples be taken for beryllium during the installation of an exhaust hood inthe 325 Building basethe analytical method. All samples taken showed the minimum amount of beryllium detectable by 7.3 A study was made atthe 272 West !.lachine Shop for ARHCO t o sirnulate the workers' e qo sure s while machining and polishing a beryllium-copper alloy. The re suits indicated that under the conditions studied the machinist could be eco sed to hazardous concentrations of beryllium. Additional study is anti - 7.4 Fourteen shipments totalling 619 filters were received of which 171 uere tested. resulting in one ofthe lowest rejection rates experienced by the Station for a Of the filters received, 556 arrived in2car loads. On hand for testing are 448filters and 69 are scheduled to arrive. 7.5 Flanders is substituting wood particle board for plywood i%a ll their wood frame filters. This appears t o have been done largely without prior consent o r knowledge by the purchasers. This has resulted in delays since the usual customer w rc ii as e specifications do not z kno u ledge particle board and it is then necessary to refer the matter to the purchaser which takes several days to clear each lot for test iris. ' 7.6 The filter testing station ts ted 1478 new mask cartridges of uhich 64 (4.3%) did not meet specific at i cns. Of 1170 used cartridges, 74 (6.3%)railed to check respirator cartridges. Poor agreement was obi ned on 11 Acme cartridges. This was believed possibly due t o changes occurring during shipment inasmuch as penetrations were generally much higher following shipment, This indic at ts that the EHS 6-12'7 penetrometer is probably performing properly although this can not be definitely concluded. NRL data on 15 inter - laboratory check specimens of filter paper has not been forthcoming, therefore,the degree of accuracy ofthe tster cannot be accurately established. 7.8 Temperature recordings were made of t h e Q-127 and E-18 DOP penetrometers t o demonstrate the temperature variations occurring with the new control system devised by EHS. Excellent control was observed. A report is being prepared for penetrometer temperatures using a different control system. DELETED . ORNL is providing for comparison purposes a recording of their 7.9 Air Surveillance activities for the month of February consisted of : 1. the continuous monitoring ofthe 180-ft. stack, 333 Bldg., for oxides 2. the continuous monitoring of Purex stack for oxides of nitrogen ; and, 3.s a up ling of the 7U-ft. power stack in the 300 Area forSO Progress on the sampling portion of the airborne asbestos study has commenced. Some difficulty has been experienced in arranging for the desired sampling conditions to be set up. asbestos samples has been received and adjusted ; it is ready for use. The phase contrast microscope purchased for analyzing

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Work on the self - contained breathing apparatus protection factor study has progressed with calibration of the Davis Halide meter and installation of ro to meters,valves, and other hardware. The EHS portion of the AEC Health Study is practically to the point where field interviews will commence; the welding craft will be the initial underAt the request of the BNW Fuel Process Development group, a mercury survey wes conducted inthe 325 Building basement after mercury was s Dil led in the mercury concentrations found exceeded the Threshold Limit Value. Two additional rooms were surveyed inthe 328 Building. No Two samples were collected a top Rattlesnake Mountain t o verify adequacy of disinfection of sanitary water system following modification. The results indicated the system was prepared for normal use. Ttrcnty-five water samples were co3kcted at the 326 and 3 2 ? Buildings, 300 Area, t o confirr; the adequacy of d is in faction of pipeline extensions to the fire The aeckman service representative spent two days atthe EHS laboratory in st zl ling the etomic absorption facility. Tie unit was hble tore a ui ly detect 0.04 ug of beryllium per ml of solution. probably be achieved after more experience i s gained with the instrument. Lower limits of detection will Laser safi ty was discussed with a BMJ employee proposing t o modify a laser for res ez r ch studies. Informktion on human response t o hyperbarometric pressures was provided t o PRTR menagement for use in safety meetings preliminary to the pressure testing of TnfGrmation on the effects of exposure t o sound from ultrasonic drills, as found by EHS study,was provided t o DELETED , The Boeing Company, Renton. They are contemplating such a facility. He is contemplating a visit to observe 01' Kennewick High School on 2-26-68 t o gain information f o r a symposium on school safety to be held in March. - and other members of a forthcoming panel met with ec ien ce teachers The third in EHS's series of talks for the Industrial Medicine Department was The sub jecr; of tiiis …