Occupational chemical exposures: a collaboration between the Georgia Poison Center and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Abstract

Context: In the United States, regional poison centers frequently receive calls about toxic workplace exposures. Most poison centers do not share call details routinely with governmental regulatory agencies. Worker health and safety could be enhanced if regulators such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had the ability to investigate these events and prevent similar incidents. With this goal in mind, the Georgia Poison Center (GPC) began referring occupational exposures to OSHA in July 2014.

Methods: GPC began collecting additional employer details when handling occupational exposure calls. When workers granted permission, GPC forwarded call details to the OSHA Regional Office in Atlanta. These referrals enabled OSHA to initiate several investigations. We also analyzed all occupational exposures reported to GPC during the study period to characterize the events, detect violations of OSHA reporting requirements, and identify hazardous scenarios that could form the basis for future OSHA rulemaking or guidance.

Results: GPC was informed about 953 occupational exposures between 1 July, 2014 and 7 January, 2016. Workers were exposed to 217 unique substances, and 70.3% of victims received treatment in a healthcare facility. Hydrogen sulfide was responsible for the largest number of severe clinical effects. GPC obtained permission to refer 89 (9.3%) calls to OSHA. As a result of these referrals, OSHA conducted 39 investigations and cited 15 employers for “serious” violations. OSHA forwarded several other referrals to other regulatory agencies when OSHA did not have jurisdiction. At least one employer failed to comply with OSHA’s new rule that mandates reporting of all work-related hospitalizations. This collaboration increased OSHA’s awareness of dangerous job tasks including hydrofluoric acid exposure among auto detailers and carbon monoxide poisoning with indoor use of gasoline-powered tools.

Conclusions: Collaboration with the GPC generated a useful source of referrals to OSHA. OSHA investigations led to abatement of existing hazards, and OSHA acquired new knowledge of occupational exposure scenarios.

Keywords:

• Occupational
• poisoning
• toxicity
• Poison Center
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Georgia

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the authors and do not purport to reflect official views of OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor.

Additional information

Funding

There was no outside funding obtained for this work.