occupational safety and health standards exist, the concentrations were four to six orders of magnitude lower than the standards.
3.2.2 NIOSH Docket Submissions
3.2.2.1 Winfield 1983
Winfield [1983] performed an industrial hygiene survey in a purchasing office at the University of Texas in response to worker complaints of headaches, skin eruptions, upper airways irritation, and other symptoms. The number of workers who reported symptoms was not given, but the report stated that the incidence of symptoms was higher among the 22 employed in the purchasing section than in the 16 employed in the vouchers section. Several former employees reported that their symptoms ceased when they terminated employment. Formaldehyde was measured inside a closed cabinet containing CCP forms, and the level was found to be just above the limit of detection. Other measurements were obtained for hydrocarbons linked to toner solvent from a copy machine and for chlorinated solvents linked with correction fluid, waxes, glues, etc. Interviews were conducted at four other offices where workers handled CCP forms. Workers reported no symptoms in the press office, where forms were handled for printing and gluing. In the personnel office, where forms were handled but not typed on, one worker reported transient skin irritation. Two of four workers in the mail and supply office reported skin irritation. In the central receiving office, two workers complained of odor and headaches when using continuous-roll copy paper; however, the report did not note whether this paper was CCP. Alterations in the air-handling system (which were engineered to exceed the minimum rate for office spaces) did not reduce the reported symptoms. The author stated that the reported symptoms were probably caused by CCP based on the available scientific literature, but she offered no definitive scientific evidence in support of this conclusion. Recommendations from the available literature were suggested to improve the comfort and health of the workers, but no followup survey was reported.
3.2.2.2 Hazelton Laboratories 1985
A NIOSH docket submission by Hazelton Laboratories [1985] (Final Report, March 11, 1985: A Study to Determine the Potential Emanation of Formaldehyde Vapor from Carbonless Copy Paper) describes an investigation performed for a member of the U.S. CCP industry to determine the potential emanation of formaldehyde vapor from CCP.
The experiments were performed in a glove box to measure the following: (1) the maximum formaldehyde air concentration (collected with impinger and measured using NIOSH Method 125 [NIOSH 1994]) produced by a set number of sheets of CCP and (2) the effects of marking and separating four-ply CCP forms on the emission of formaldehyde. The experiments also evaluated the effects of ventilation on the formaldehyde concentrations from various types of CCP. The formaldehyde concentration in the glove box ranged from 0 to 0.7 ppm for the CF and the "self-contained black" paper, respectively. Those products containing black ink produced substantially higher formaldehyde concentrations than those containing blue ink. A model was developed from the kinetic experiments to predict air concentrations of formaldehyde attributable to handling CCP in the office environment.
Product test methods. An aluminum pouch containing the papers was placed in the 285-L chamber for testing. Table 3-5 presents the data for turning 2 or 6 sheets/ min using a varying number of total sheets turned. Chamber concentration of formaldehyde increased as
