Common Name: BORON TRICHLORIDE CAS Number: 10294-34-5 RTK Substance number: 0245 DOT Number: UN 1741 Date: April 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAZARD SUMMARY * Boron Trichloride can affect you when breathed in and * Exposure to hazardous substances should be routinely by passing through your skin. evaluated. This may include collecting personal and area * Boron Trichloride is a CORROSIVE CHEMICAL and air samples. You can obtain copies of sampling results contact can severely irritate and burn the skin and eyes from your employer. You have a legal right to this with possible eye damage. information under OSHA 1910.1020. * Breathing Boron Trichloride can irritate the nose and * If you think you are experiencing any work-related health throat. problems, see a doctor trained to recognize occupational * Breathing Boron Trichloride can irritate the lungs diseases. Take this Fact Sheet with you. causing coughing and/or shortness of breath. Higher exposures can cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs WORKPLACE EXPOSURE LIMITS (pulmonary edema), a medical emergency, with severe No occupational exposure limits have been established for shortness of breath. Boron Trichloride. This does not mean that this substance is * Boron Trichloride can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea not harmful. Safe work practices should always be followed. and weight loss. * High exposure to Boron Trichloride can cause seizures, * It should be recognized that Boron Trichloride can be convulsions, depression, coma and death. absorbed through your skin, thereby increasing your * Boron Trichloride may damage the liver and kidneys. exposure. * Boron Trichloride is a REACTIVE CHEMICAL and an EXPLOSION HAZARD. WAYS OF REDUCING EXPOSURE * Where possible, enclose operations and use local exhaust IDENTIFICATION ventilation at the site of chemical release. If local exhaust Boron Trichloride is a colorless liquid with a sharp, irritating ventilation or enclosure is not used, respirators should be odor or a colorless gas under pressure. It is used in worn. manufacturing Boron, as a catalyst, and in semiconductors. * Wear protective work clothing. * Wash thoroughly immediately after exposure to Boron REASON FOR CITATION Trichloride and at the end of the workshift. * Boron Trichloride is on the Hazardous Substance List * Post hazard and warning information in the work area. In because it is cited by DOT and EPA. addition, as part of an ongoing education and training * This chemical is on the Special Health Hazard Substance effort, communicate all information on the health and List because it is REACTIVE and CORROSIVE. safety hazards of Boron Trichloride to potentially * Definitions are provided on page 5. exposed workers. HOW TO DETERMINE IF YOU ARE BEING EXPOSED The New Jersey Right to Know Act requires most employers to label chemicals in the workplace and requires public employers to provide their employees with information and training concerning chemical hazards and controls. The federal OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, 1910.1200, requires private employers to provide similar training and information to their employees. BORON TRICHLORIDE page 2 of 6 This Fact Sheet is a summary source of information of all Any evaluation should include a careful history of past and potential and most severe health hazards that may result from present symptoms with an exam. Medical tests that look for exposure. Duration of exposure, concentration of the damage already done are not a substitute for controlling substance and other factors will affect your susceptibility to exposure. any of the potential effects described below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Request copies of your medical testing. You have a legal right to this information under OSHA 1910.1020. HEALTH HAZARD INFORMATION Mixed Exposures Acute Health Effects * Because smoking can cause heart disease, as well as lung The following acute (short-term) health effects may occur cancer, emphysema, and other respiratory problems, it may immediately or shortly after exposure to Boron Trichloride: worsen respiratory conditions caused by chemical exposure. Even if you have smoked for a long time, * Contact can severely irritate and burn the skin and eyes stopping now will reduce your risk of developing health with possible eye damage. problems. * Breathing Boron Trichloride can irritate the nose and * Because more than light alcohol consumption can cause throat. liver damage, drinking alcohol can increase the liver * Breathing Boron Trichloride can irritate the lungs damage caused by Boron Trichloride. causing coughing and/or shortness of breath. Higher exposures can cause a build-up of fluid in the lungs WORKPLACE CONTROLS AND PRACTICES (pulmonary edema), a medical emergency, with severe shortness of breath. Unless a less toxic chemical can be substituted for a hazardous * Boron Trichloride can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea substance, ENGINEERING CONTROLS are the most and weight loss. effective way of reducing exposure. The best protection is to * High exposure to Boron Trichloride can cause seizures, enclose operations and/or provide local exhaust ventilation at convulsions, depression, coma and death. the site of chemical release. Isolating operations can also reduce exposure. Using respirators or protective equipment is Chronic Health Effects less effective than the controls mentioned above, but is The following chronic (long-term) health effects can occur at sometimes necessary. some time after exposure to Boron Trichloride and can last for months or years: In evaluating the controls present in your workplace, consider: (1) how hazardous the substance is, (2) how much of the Cancer Hazard substance is released into the workplace and (3) whether * According to the information presently available to the harmful skin or eye contact could occur. Special controls New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, should be in place for highly toxic chemicals or when Boron Trichloride has not been tested for its ability to significant skin, eye, or breathing exposures are possible. cause cancer in animals. In addition, the following controls are recommended: Reproductive Hazard * According to the information presently available to the * Where possible, automatically pump liquid Boron New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Trichloride from drums or other storage containers to Boron Trichloride has not been tested for its ability to process containers. affect reproduction. * Before entering a confined space where Boron Trichloride may be present, check to make sure that an Other Long-Term Effects explosive concentration does not exist. * Boron Trichloride may damage the liver and kidneys. * Boron Trichloride can irritate the lungs. Repeated Good WORK PRACTICES can help to reduce hazardous exposure may cause bronchitis to develop with cough, exposures. The following work practices are recommended: phlegm, and/or shortness of breath. * Workers whose clothing has been contaminated by Boron MEDICAL Trichloride should change into clean clothing promptly. * Contaminated work clothes should be laundered by Medical Testing individuals who have been informed of the hazards of If symptoms develop or overexposure is suspected, the exposure to Boron Trichloride. following are recommended: * Eye wash fountains should be provided in the immediate work area for emergency use. * Consider chest x-ray after acute overexposure. * If there is the possibility of skin exposure, emergency * Liver and kidney function tests. shower facilities should be provided. BORON TRICHLORIDE page 3 of 6 * On skin contact with Boron Trichloride, immediately pressure mode. For increased protection use in wash or shower to remove the chemical. At the end of the combination with an auxiliary self-contained breathing workshift, wash any areas of the body that may have apparatus operated in a pressure-demand or other positive- contacted Boron Trichloride, whether or not known skin pressure mode. contact has occurred. * Do not eat, smoke, or drink where Boron Trichloride is HANDLING AND STORAGE handled, processed, or stored, since the chemical can be swallowed. Wash hands carefully before eating, drinking, * Prior to working with Boron Trichloride you should be smoking, or using the toilet. trained on its proper handling and storage. * Boron Trichloride will react violently with WATER to PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT release Hydrogen Chloride gas and heat. * Boron Trichloride must be stored to avoid contact with WORKPLACE CONTROLS ARE BETTER THAN HEXAFLUOROISOPROPYLIDENEAMINOLITHIUM; PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. However, for AMMONIA; ANILINE; PHOSPHINE; DINITROGEN some jobs (such as outside work, confined space entry, jobs TETROXIDE; STRONG ACIDS (such as done only once in a while, or jobs done while workplace HYDROCHLORIC, SULFURIC and NITRIC); and controls are being installed), personal protective equipment STRONG BASES (such as SODIUM HYDROXIDE and may be appropriate. POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE) since violent reactions occur. OSHA 1910.132 requires employers to determine the * Boron Trichloride is not compatible with ALCOHOLS; appropriate personal protective equipment for each hazard and FAT and GREASE; OXIDIZING AGENTS (such as to train employees on how and when to use protective PERCHLORATES, PEROXIDES, PERMANGANATES, equipment. CHLORATES, NITRATES, CHLORINE, BROMINE and FLUORINE);