Health Hazards in a Production Line at a Manufacturing Facility
Instructions
You have been tasked with identifying health hazards associated with a production line at a manufacturing facility.
Employees at the beginning of the line use a solvent to clean the surface of medium-size auto parts, and then they place the parts on a moving line. As the parts move along the line, an employee sprays them with a powder coating, and the parts move through an oven. Another employee removes the parts from the line and places them in slots in a cart for transporting to shipping.
You have been provided safety data sheets for the solvent used for cleaning the parts and the powder coating that is used. Use the Basic Job Hazard Analysis form to identify the potential health hazards associated with the process. You will use the Basic Job Hazard Analysis form to enter your responses and to answer the four questions listed below. Please upload this completed document to your instructor for grading.
Prepare a two-page homework assignment summarizing your health hazard analysis and answer these questions from the Basic Job Hazard Analysis form.
What are the health hazards associated with the operation?
What are the primary exposure routes associated with each health hazard?
Are there any potential acute or chronic health effects for any of the health hazards you identified?
Are special hazards associated with any of the health hazards?
You may use the safety data sheets provided above, information from the OSHA or NIOSH websites, or academic references from the Internet to answer the questions. Citations are not required for this homework assignment; however you may want to use them in order to answer the questions.
Identifying Health Hazards
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Identifying Health Hazards
The case presents two significant manufacturing hazards, namely chemical hazards and safety hazards. The manufacturing chemical hazards arise from operations involving the use of solvent and powder, which are used in the production of the equipment. While cleaning the surfaces of the auto parts, workers in the manufacturing company are exposed to chemical hazards such as the increased risk of skin and eye irritation. When inhaled, the solvents are also likely to harm the body. The risk of harm from exposure to the solvents through inhalation also threatens the health of workers. Another manufacturing operation that increases the risk of workers in the manufacturing company to chemical hazards is spraying the auto parts with a powder coating before the parts move to the oven. This procedure exposes workers to harm from inhalation or egestion. The spray also exposes them to increased skin and eye irritation risk.
The case also exposes its workers to safety hazards from handling the auto parts. Workers handle the auto parts in two stages. First, placing them on the moving line and second, removing the parts from the line and putting them in the carts for transportation. The safety risk occurs from the moving machines and manual handling of the auto parts. The manual handling of the machines and interactions with the devices could cause physical harm to workers.
The primary exposure routes associated with the solvent include direct contact, inhalation, and egestion. The exposure routes for the powder coating also have direct contact, inhalation, and egestion. Physical contact serves as an exposure route through direct contact with the skin. Inhalation occurs through the nose and eyes, while egestion occurs through the mouth when worke...