CHLORINE DIOXIDE HAZARD SUMMARY - New …

1 Common Name: CHLORINE DIOXIDE . CAS Number: 10049-04-4. DOT Number: NA 9191 (Hydrate, frozen). DOT HAZARD Class: FORBIDDEN (Not Hydrate) RTK Substance number: 0368. (Oxidizer) Date: June 1998 Revision: December 2005. ---------------------------------------- --------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------------------------------- HAZARD SUMMARY . * CHLORINE DIOXIDE can affect you when breathed in. * Exposure to hazardous substances should be routinely * Contact can irritate the skin and eyes causing watery eyes evaluated. This may include collecting personal and area and seeing halos around the lights. air samples. You can obtain copies of sampling results * Breathing CHLORINE DIOXIDE can irritate the nose and from your employer. You have a legal right to this throat causing coughing and wheezing. information under the OSHA Access to Employee * Breathing CHLORINE DIOXIDE can irritate the lungs causing Exposure and Medical Records Standard (29 CFR.)

2 Coughing and/or shortness of breath. Higher exposures ). can cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary * If you think you are experiencing any work-related health edema), a medical emergency, with severe shortness of problems, see a doctor trained to recognize occupational breath. diseases. Take this Fact Sheet with you. * CHLORINE DIOXIDE is a HIGHLY FLAMMABLE and * ODOR THRESHOLD = ppm. REACTIVE gas and a DANGEROUS FIRE and * The range of accepted odor threshold values is quite EXPLOSION HAZARD . broad. Caution should be used in relying on odor alone as * DOT regulations FORBID the transport of CHLORINE a warning of potentially hazardous exposures. DIOXIDE in Not Hydrate form. WORKPLACE EXPOSURE LIMITS. IDENTIFICATION OSHA: The legal airborne permissible exposure limit CHLORINE DIOXIDE is a yellow to red gas with an irritating odor (PEL) is ppm averaged over an 8-hour similar to CHLORINE . It is used to bleach wood pulp, textiles workshift. and oils, in processing flour, and for water purification.

3 NIOSH: The recommended airborne exposure limit is ppm averaged over a 10-hour workshift and REASON FOR CITATION ppm, not to be exceeded during any 15- * CHLORINE DIOXIDE is on the Hazardous Substance List minute work period. ACGIH: The recommended airborne exposure limit is because it is regulated by OSHA and cited by ACGIH, ppm averaged over an 8-hour workshift and DOT, NIOSH, DEP, IRIS and EPA. ppm as a STEL (short term exposure limit). * This chemical is on the Special Health HAZARD Substance List because it is FLAMMABLE and REACTIVE. * Definitions are provided on page 5. WAYS OF REDUCING EXPOSURE. * Where possible, enclose operations and use local exhaust ventilation at the site of chemical release. If local exhaust HOW TO DETERMINE IF YOU ARE BEING. ventilation or enclosure is not used, respirators should be EXPOSED worn. The New Jersey Right to Know Act requires most employers * Wear protective work clothing. to label chemicals in the workplace and requires public * Wash thoroughly immediately after exposure to CHLORINE employers to provide their employees with information and DIOXIDE and at the end of the workshift.

4 Training concerning chemical hazards and controls. The * Post HAZARD and warning information in the work area. In federal OSHA HAZARD Communication Standard (29 CFR addition, as part of an ongoing education and training ) requires private employers to provide similar effort, communicate all information on the health and training and information to their employees. safety hazards of CHLORINE DIOXIDE to potentially exposed workers. CHLORINE DIOXIDE page 2 of 6. This Fact Sheet is a SUMMARY source of information of all Any evaluation should include a careful history of past and potential and most severe health hazards that may result from present symptoms with an exam. Medical tests that look for exposure. Duration of exposure, concentration of the substance damage already done are not a substitute for controlling and other factors will affect your susceptibility to any of the exposure. potential effects described below. ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Request copies of your medical testing.

5 You have a legal right to this information under the OSHA Access to Employee HEALTH HAZARD INFORMATION Exposure and Medical Records Standard (29 CFR ). Acute Health Effects Mixed Exposures The following acute (short-term) health effects may occur * Because smoking can cause heart disease, as well as lung immediately or shortly after exposure to CHLORINE DIOXIDE : cancer, emphysema, and other respiratory problems, it may worsen respiratory conditions caused by chemical exposure. * Contact can irritate the skin and eyes causing watery eyes Even if you have smoked for a long time, stopping now will and seeing halos around lights. reduce your risk of developing health problems. * Breathing CHLORINE DIOXIDE can irritate the nose and throat causing coughing and wheezing. WORKPLACE CONTROLS AND PRACTICES. * Breathing CHLORINE DIOXIDE can irritate the lungs causing coughing and/or shortness of breath. Higher exposures can Unless a less toxic chemical can be substituted for a hazardous cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema), a substance, ENGINEERING CONTROLS are the most medical emergency, with severe shortness of breath.

6 Effective way of reducing exposure. The best protection is to enclose operations and/or provide local exhaust ventilation at Chronic Health Effects the site of chemical release. Isolating operations can also The following chronic (long-term) health effects can occur at reduce exposure. Using respirators or protective equipment is some time after exposure to CHLORINE DIOXIDE and can last for less effective than the controls mentioned above, but is months or years: sometimes necessary. Cancer HAZARD In evaluating the controls present in your workplace, consider: * According to the information presently available to the New (1) how hazardous the substance is, (2) how much of the Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, CHLORINE substance is released into the workplace and (3) whether DIOXIDE has not been tested for its ability to cause cancer in harmful skin or eye contact could occur. Special controls animals. should be in place for highly toxic chemicals or when significant skin, eye, or breathing exposures are possible.

7 Reproductive HAZARD * There is limited evidence that CHLORINE DIOXIDE may In addition, the following controls are recommended: damage the developing fetus. * Where possible, automatically pump CHLORINE DIOXIDE Other Long-Term Effects from cylinders or other storage containers to process * CHLORINE DIOXIDE can irritate the lungs. Repeated exposure containers. may cause bronchitis to develop with cough, phlegm, * Before entering a confined space where CHLORINE DIOXIDE and/or shortness of breath. may be present, check to make sure that an explosive concentration does not exist. MEDICAL Good WORK PRACTICES can help to reduce hazardous exposures. The following work practices are recommended: Medical Testing For those with frequent or potentially high exposure (half the * Workers whose clothing has been contaminated by PEL or greater), the following are recommended before CHLORINE DIOXIDE should change into clean clothing beginning work and at regular times after that: promptly.

8 * Contaminated work clothes should be laundered by * Lung function tests individuals who have been informed of the hazards of exposure to CHLORINE DIOXIDE . If symptoms develop or overexposure is suspected, the * Eye wash fountains should be provided in the immediate following is recommended: work area for emergency use. * If there is the possibility of skin exposure, emergency * Consider chest x-ray after acute overexposure. shower facilities should be provided. CHLORINE DIOXIDE page 3 of 6. * On skin contact with CHLORINE DIOXIDE , immediately wash * If while wearing a filter or cartridge respirator you can or shower to remove the chemical. At the end of the smell, taste, or otherwise detect CHLORINE DIOXIDE , or if workshift, wash any areas of the body that may have while wearing particulate filters abnormal resistance to contacted CHLORINE DIOXIDE , whether or not known skin breathing is experienced, or eye irritation occurs while contact has occurred. wearing a full facepiece respirator, leave the area * Do not eat, smoke, or drink where CHLORINE DIOXIDE is immediately.

9 Check to make sure the respirator-to-face seal handled, processed, or stored, since the chemical can be is still good. If it is, replace the filter or cartridge. If the swallowed. Wash hands carefully before eating, drinking, seal is no longer good, you may need a new respirator. smoking, or using the toilet. * Be sure to consider all potential exposures in your workplace. You may need a combination of filters, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT prefilters or cartridges to protect against different forms of a chemical (such as vapor and mist) or against a mixture of WORKPLACE CONTROLS ARE BETTER THAN chemicals. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. However, for * Where the potential exists for exposure over ppm, use a some jobs (such as outside work, confined space entry, jobs NIOSH approved supplied-air respirator with a full done only once in a while, or jobs done while workplace facepiece operated in a pressure-demand or other positive- controls are being installed), personal protective equipment pressure mode.

10 For increased protection use in combination may be appropriate. with an auxiliary self-contained breathing apparatus operated in a pressure-demand or other positive-pressure The OSHA Personal Protective Equipment Standard (29 CFR mode. ) requires employers to determine the appropriate * Exposure to 5 ppm is immediately dangerous to life and personal protective equipment for each HAZARD and to train health. If the possibility of exposure above 5 ppm exists, employees on how and when to use protective equipment. use a NIOSH approved self-contained breathing apparatus with a full facepiece operated in a pressure-demand or other The following recommendations are only guidelines and may positive-pressure mode equipped with an emergency escape not apply to every situation. air cylinder. Clothing HANDLING AND STORAGE. * Avoid skin contact with CHLORINE DIOXIDE . Wear protective gloves and clothing. Safety equipment * Prior to working with CHLORINE DIOXIDE you should be suppliers/manufacturers can provide recommendations on trained on its proper handling and storage.