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City of Tracy Health and Safety Plan UST Removal WES Project No. 4039-T Page 3 October 20, 1993 SECTION 3.0 JOB HAZARD ANALYSIS 3.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND The possible contaminant present on site is organics and lead from gasoline, diesel fuel, and fuel oil. 3.2 WASTE DESCRIPTION Gasoline Gasoline can pose a significant health hazard as lead is a toxic metal. The organic lead compounds,tetraethyllead (TEL) and tetramethyllead (TML) are constituents of gasoline as antiknock compounds. Health problems associated with lead are headache, anxiety, insomnia, nervous excitation and minor gastrointestinal symptoms with a metallic taste in the mouth. Liquid alkyllead may penetrate the skin without producing appreciable local injury. However, the decomposition products (i.e., mono-, di-, and triethyllead compounds) in dust form may be inhaled and result in irritation of the upper respiratory tract and possibly paroxysmal sneezing. This dust, when in contact with moist skin or ocular membranes, may cause itching, burning, and transient redness. TEL itself is irritating to the eyes. The absorption of a sufficient quantity of TEL whether briefly at a high rate, or for prolonged periods at a lower rate, may give rise to a variety of symptoms which include mild anxiety, toxic delirium with hallucinations, delusions, convulsions, and acute toxic psychosis. Physical signs are not prominent; but bradychardia, hypotension, increased reflexes, tremor, and slight weight loss have been reported. When the interval between the termination of exposure and the onset of symptoms is short, an early fatal outcome may result.Exposure to TML may produce insomnia, bad dreams, restlessness, anxiousness; hypotension; nausea; aneroxia, delirium, mania, convulsions; coma. The points of attack for both TEL and TML are the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, kidneys and eyes. The acceptable method for monitoring lead contamination in humans is hair or blood analysis. The permissible level of lead in blood is 70 micrograms/milliliter. The airborne PEL is 0.1 mg/m3, and is determined by air monitoring and analysis by NIOSH Method 7300. Other constituents of gasoline can include but are not limited to benzene, toluene and xylene. Exposure to there compounds can cause nausea, dizziness, visual disturbances, narcosis and collapse. Chronic effects include central nervous system disorders, respiratory tract irritation, tearing, lassitude and immunological disorders.