Abstract
On March 14, 1997, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health received a request for a Health Hazard Evaluation from the Safety Director of Shindoni, Inc., Tesuque, New Mexico. The request asked for help identifying and controlling the chemicals responsible for causing headaches and nausea among workers during pours of bronze castings. The company identified the sand mold resin bonding system as the suspected source of the irritating chemicals. Shindoni, Inc, is a privately-owned art foundry which produces a wide variety of art products, but primarily bronze castings. The area of interest within the site is the bronze foundry operations. Sand is mixed with an isocyanate-based binder system and then packed around fiberglass patterns, cores, and wax shapes to make a mold. Once the binder has set, the mold is poured. Bronze is the predominant metal used.