Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

What Percentage Of The Security Forces At Macdill Afb Experience Exposure To Noise In Excess Of The Osha Pel And The Air Force Oeel?, Julian Joseph Krusely

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Noise-related hearing loss has been listed as one of the most prevalent occupational health concerns in the United States for more than 25 years with approximately 30 million people in the US alone occupationally exposed to hazardous noise according to the Occupational Safety and Health Organization. Many people are aware of some risks the military members take every day being at war, but very few think about the risks of the members on a base located stateside. To this point, not much research has been done on these risks, and even less has been done on the hazardous noise risks …

Assessment Of Prolonged Occupational Exposure To Heat Stress, Ximena Garzon-Villalba Garzon-Villalba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heat stress is a recognized occupational hazard present in many work environments. Its effects increase with increasing environmental heat loads. There is good evidence that exertional heat illness is associated with ambient thermal conditions in outdoor environments. Further, there is reason to believe that risk of acute injury may also increase with the ambient environment. For these reasons, the assessment of heat stress, which can be done through the characterization of the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), is designed to limit exposures to those that could be sustained for an 8-h day. The ACGIH Threshold Limit Value (TLV) for heat …

Hexamethylene Diisocyanate Homopolymer And Monomer Exposure Assessment And Characterization At An Automobile Manufacturer In The United States, Karthik Reguram Sivaraman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A variety of paint products are used for their aesthetic and anti-corrosive properties. Isocyanates are consistently found in automobile paint products, particularly in clear coat polyurethane products. Clear coat is typically sprayed via pressurized air by means of an auto-spray robot. In clear coat repair situations, manual, air-powered spray guns are used, and manual spray Operators administer the clear coat material. The isocyanates are a primary anti-corrosive agent in polyurethane products. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not established a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and American Conference of Governmental …

Assessing Excessive Noise Exposure Of Music-Oriented Nightclub Employees, Aiyanna Fitzgerald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much research has gone into noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the effects of high intensity noise levels on the hearing mechanism of individuals. A study by the National Institutes of Health has established that high intensity sounds can cause hearing damage of either a temporary, or worse, a permanent nature; regardless of the age of the person. While sound levels below 75 decibels are considered comparatively harmless and have been found not to cause any kind of permanent hearing loss; sound levels greater than 85 decibels and regular exposure of approximately 8 hours per day, on an average, has been …

Critical Heat Stress Evaluation In Two Ebola Ensembles, Christopher T. Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ebola, a type of filovirus that causes hemorrhagic fevers, dominated global headlines in 2014 when the largest Ebola epidemic in history took place in West Africa. Healthcare practitioners were at particular risk of contracting Ebola while taking care of patients with the disease because they were easily exposed to bodily fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, and feces, quite often in the intensive care unit (ICU). While personal protective equipment (PPE) protects the healthcare practitioner by providing an effective barrier against the virus, users were also at risk for heat stress because of the type of protective clothing. In this …

Risk Factors Associated With Non-Compliance With The Respiratory Protection Program Among Firefighters, Brandon Dawkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Non-compliance with respiratory protection programs among firefighters may put them at increased risk of injury and illness from occupational exposures during fire extinguishing activities. This research aims to characterize respiratory protection practices among Florida firefighters. This information will allow better understanding of factors that are associated with non-compliance with respiratory protection guidelines.

Methods: Survey questionnaire was used to characterize Florida fire departments in this cross sectional study. Four hundred and seventy-seven surveys were administered to Florida firefighters both in person and electronically to collect information regarding firefighter knowledge and participation in their respective respiratory protection programs during the past …

Comparison Of Urinary Pahs Among Firefighters And Asphalt Pavers, Theodore Aquino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Firefighters and asphalt pavers are exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during various work activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate urinary PAH levels and compare these bio-monitoring levels among firefighters, asphalt pavers, and non-occupationally exposed individuals. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) urinary PAH levels were used for non-occupationally exposed controls. When compared to the NIST standard for smokers and non-smokers, firefighters demonstrated statistically significant differences in urinary concentration differences for the following metabolites: 2-OH-fluorene, 3-OH-fluorene and 1-OH-pyrene, which were lower in firefighters than the NIST mean for smokers. 1-OH-phenanthrene, 2-OH-phenanthrene and 3-OH-phenanthrene were higher …