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A study of methanol exposures among school workers while operating spirit duplicating machines was conducted. Breathing zone samples were collected from 60 teachers or teaching assistants at six schools in North Carolina while they used spirit duplicating machines. These were analyzed for methanol using Miran 1A gas analyzers. The subjects completed a questionnaire to report information on their frequency and duration of spirit duplicator use. Material safety data sheets showed that the methanol content of the duplicating fluids used in the machines at the schools was 99.85 to 100%. The breathing zone samples were collected during 85 duplicating tasks that lasted from 0.5 to 44.5 minutes (min). The methanol vapor exposures of the teachers and teaching assistants were lognormally distributed. The mean methanol exposures and their standard deviation experienced by the teachers and teaching assistants were 404 +/- 296 and 322 +/- 248 parts per million (ppm), respectively. The probability of the teachers' methanol exposures exceeding the OSHA short term exposure limit (STEL) of 250ppm after 5, 10, and 15min of duplicating machine use was 0.135, 0.411, and 0.613, respectively. The probability that the teaching assistants' exposures would exceed the STEL for the same periods of use was 0.103, 0.298, and 0.461, respectively. The authors conclude that school workers have a high risk of being exposed to methanol in excess of the STEL even during brief periods of spirit duplicator use. The authors recommend that schools provide local exhaust ventilation with enclosures for the spirit duplicating machines and post warning signs about the potential hazards of methanol adjacent to areas where the machines are used.
Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 11(11):1340-1345, 1996. (17 references)
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