Photograph of parts this leaking oil tank

MSDS for Home Heating Oil Exposure Effects, Exposure Limits, Health Hazards
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Material Safety Data Sheet for No. 2 home heating oil
Exposure limits for liquid or fumes of No. 2 home heating oil
Material Safety Data Sheet for Crude oil
MSDS data for other weights of fuel oil
Hazard list for exposure to No. 2 home heating oil
Heating oil exposure limits for liquid or airborne contact
Health hazards associated with heating Oil tank smells & odors

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This document provides information on the contents of Crude Oil, Home Heating Oil, & other fuel oil material safety data sheets or Heating Oil MSDS. See HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS for information about possible health hazards from exposure to various forms of oil, crude oil, heavy oil, or home heating oil in liquid or gas (fumes) forms.

Readers should also see OIL TANK SAFETY where we describe the flammability and explosion hazards of fuel oil fumes and where we provide an extensive list of hazards and safety concerns for fuel oil. Also see OIL TANK LEAK ADVICE for our detailed advice on handling leaky oil tanks as well as links to oil tank leak regulations for U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Readers should also see BOILER NOISE SMOKE ODORS for a discussion of flue gas leaks, smells, and hazards from the combustion products of oil burning heating appliances.

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MSDS [Material Safety Data Sheet] information for No. 2 Home Heating Oil

Here we summarize the basic information provided on MSDS sheets (material data safety sheets) for home heating oil. This information is a condensation of the full MSDS information on heating oil - readers should be sure to review the full home heating oil MSDS.

A typical No. 2 home heating oil MSDS document provided by Hess Corporation includes the hazard identification information for home heating oil that we list below. The same document provides information about toxicity levels - the exposure necessary for serious medical effects to be at risk or to actually occur.

Eye contact with heating oil: Contact with eyes may cause mild irritation. Flush with clean water for at least 15 minutes.
Skin contact with heating oil: Practically non-toxic following a single acute exposure; may cause skin irritation with prolonged or repeated contact; liquid may be absorbed through the skin in toxic amounts if large areas of skin are repeatedly exposed. Remove contaminated clothing, wash with soap and water or waterless hand cleaner; seek medical attention of skin redness develops.
Inhalation of heating oil [presumably refers to liquid inhalation?]: excessive exposure may cause irritation of the nose, throat, lungs, and respiratory tract. Central nervous system (brain) effects may include headache, dizziness, loss of balance and coordination, unconsciousness, coma, respiratory failure, and death.

MOVE TO FRESH AIR - provide artificial respiration (CPR) if necessary - seek immediate medical help.
Ingestion of heating oil: major threat occurs from vomiting and breathing liquid drops into the lungs; aspiration [presumably of liquid heating oil drops] can lead to chemical pneumonia (fluid in the lungs), severe lung damage, respiratory failure, or death.

DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING - seek immediate medical help.

Ingestion of heating oil may also cause gastrointestinal disturbances, irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, central nervous system (brain) effects similar to alcohol intoxication, and in severe cases of heating oil ingestion, effects may lead to tremors, convulsions, loss of consciousness, coma, respiratory arrest, and death.
Flue gases produced by burning heating oil in an area without adequate ventilation [presumably also where a chimney is not venting properly] may result in hazardous levels of combustion products, including carbon monoxide, and inadequate oxygen levels that can cause unconsciousness, suffocation, and death.
Carcinogenicity of heating oil: [cancer risk from home heating oil exposure]: similar products have caused skin cancer and systemic toxicity in laboratory animals following repeated applications. The significance of these results to human exposure has not been determined.
Fire and Explosion Hazards of No. 2 Home Heating Oil [fumes]: OSHA and NFPA Class 2 COMBUSTIBLE LIQUID (see Section 14 for transportation classification). Vapors may be ignited rapidly when exposed to heat, spark, open flame or other source of ignition. When mixed with air and exposed to an ignition source, flammable vapors can burn in the open or explode in confined spaces. Being heavier than air, vapors may travel long distances to an ignition source and flash back. Runoff to sewer may cause fire or explosion hazard.

Exposure Limits for No. 2 Home Heating Oil

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil - Petroleum Distillates in Air

As you may read at Regulations and Advisories Pertaining to Fuel Oil (ATSDR data), the permissible exposure limit (PEL) time weighted average exposure (TWA) for petroleum distillates (focused on naphtha), range from a 1992 NIOSH guideline of 85 ppm (350 mg/M3) to IDLH's standard of 10,000 ppm. A typical PEL is 400 to 500 ppm.

The following workplace exposure limit for heating oil is quoted from ATSDR.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Air Force Office of Safety and Health (AFOSH) regulate levels of petroleum products in the private sector and Air Force workplaces, respectively.

The maximum allowable amount of petroleum products in the workroom air during an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, is 400 parts of petroleum distillates (naphtha) per million parts of air, or more simply stated, 400 ppm.

An acute inhalation MRL [Minimum Risk Level] of 0.02 mg/M3 was derived for No. 2 heating oil (fuel oil), based on a LOAEL [Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Level] value of 65 mg/m3 for neurobehavioral effects (mild transient ataxia and CNS [Central Nervous System] depression) in mice exposed to airborne concentrations of No. 2 fuel oil.

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil or other Petroleum Distillates in Water

US EPA specifies that the domestic water supply (for drinking or bathing) must be essentially free from oil and grease, particularly from the tastes and odors that emanate from petroleum products. The U.S. national clean water act designates oil and grease as conventional pollutants. U.S. state and some Canadian provincial regulations pertaining to heating oil can be found both in the table cited above and at this website in detail at OIL TANK REGULATIONS

Carcinogenicity of Heating Oil - Cancer Risk

The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) has addressed the carcinogenic (cancer causing) classification of petroleum products for occupational exposures such as in petroleum refining and in handling of vehicle, marine and aviation fuels. (IARC 1989 Groups 2A - 2B, and 3). In the IARC/World Health Organization monograph "Occupational Exposures in Petroleum Refining", the researchers concluded that "Residual (heavy) fuel oils are possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). - and included these more detailed remarks:

There is inadequate evidence for the carcinogenicity in humans of fuel oils.
There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of residual (heavy) fuel oils.
There is limited evidence for the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of fuel oil No. 2.

In formulating the overall evaluation, the Working Group also took note of the following supporting evidence
reported in the monograph on occupational exposures in petroleum refining. There is sufficient evidence for
the carcinogenicity in experimental animals of light and heavy catalytically cracked distillates, of light and
heavy vacuum distillates and of cracked residues derived from the refining of crude oil.

Crude Oil Material Data Safety Sheet - Crude Oil MSDS

The Crude Oil MSDS identifies the key components in crude oil and discusses crude oil hazards, health effects from over exposure, chronic exposure to crude oil, and other information.

This Crude Oil MSDS from Martin Marietta Materials Corp. provides health, safety, exposure, and toxicological as well as ecological information. Important basic crude oil exposure protection advice is included for persons responding to accidental release (a crude oil spill).

This Crude Oil MSDS from El Paso Corp is provided by the El Paso Corporation. The El Paso Crude Oil MSDS indicates that Toxicological and Ecological information were unavailable in this document last revised 06/26/2007.

Crude Oil Dispersant Material Data Safety Sheets - Dispersants Sprayed on Gulf or Injected into Gulf Oil Well Spill: Corexit, Dispersit, Others

See MSDS Sheets for OIL DISPERSANTS for our full article on this topic.

Dispersants, used to break up oil spills both on the water surface and deep below the surface are intended to reduce the impact of crude oil spills on the ocean and its sealife.

In an unprecedented quantity of at least 700,000 gallons, Corexit® dispersants, produced by Nalco Energy Services, for example, were sprayed on the water surface or pumped below the surface in the 2010 oil leak catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

But dispersants themselves are toxic and though diluted by the water into which they are sprayed, may have long term effects on the environment. Although Corexit® product MSDSs include both 2-butoxyethanol and 38% 2-butoxyethanol, (both toxic chemicals) according to the New York Times ("Worry About Dispersant Rises as Men in Work Crew Complain of Health Problems", 28 May 2010), Nalco, the company that produces a series of Corexit dispersant products, has declined to disclose its proprietary chemical formula for these products that incude Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527, and Corexit 9580.

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HEAT TAPES, Heat, Insulation prevent Freeze-Up
HEATING OIL EXPOSURE HAZARDS, LIMITS
  Heating Oil Exposure Health Effects
  MSDS Sheet for HOME HEATING OIL
  Exposure Limits for Home Heating Oil
  MSDS Sheet for CRUDE OIL
  MSDS Sheets for OIL DISPERSANTS

Also see CHIMNEY INSPECTION & REPAIR GUIDE for details of chimney inspection, diagnosis, and repair, including blocked chimney flues, chimney backdrafting, leaks, and odors from flues.

Separately we discuss CARBON MONOXIDE hazards in buildings. Readers concerned with LP gas or natural gas combustion flue gas products and hazards should also see Natural Gas Combustion Products and also LP & Natural Gas Safety Hazards.

"Toxicological profile for fuel oils", U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Atlanta, GA 1995. - http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp75.html
Public Health Statement for Fuel Oils, ATSDR, (the full document original source can be found at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs75.html). An excerpt from this document is just below. ATSDR,
Division of Toxicology, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32, Atlanta, GA 30333 888-422-8737.
Heating Oil Exposure Health Effects - The ATSDR section on health effects of exposure to heating oil see-ATSDR
No. 2 Home Heating Oil Chemical Properties - ATSDR data on the chemistry and composition of No. 2 home heating oil and of kerosene
Potential for Human Exposure to Heating Oil - ATSDR
Regulations and Advisories Pertaining to Fuel Oil - ATSDR data on how exposure limits for heating oil were derived, a table of international and national (U.S.) regulations governing fuel oil,
Home Heating Oil Spills, Fact Sheet, Connecticut Department of Public Health
"Home Heating Oil Spills", Wisconsin Department of Health, at http://dhs.wisconsin.gov/eh/Air/fs/Oilspill.htm
Occupational Exposures in Petroleum Refining; Crude Oil and Major Petroleum Fuels, IARC - World Health Organization, 1/21/1998. This monograph is available at http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol45/volume45.pdf and it includes a chapter
FUEL OILS (HEATING OILS) Residual (heavy) fuel oils (Group 2B) and Distillate (light) fuel oils (Group 3) that describes heating oil exposure data, concluding "Residual (heavy) fuel oils are possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)." To search the IARC monographs on various environmental concerns and carcinogens, use http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/PDFs/index.php
"MSDS for No. 2 Fuel Oil - home heating oil", Hess Corporation, 1 Hess Plaza, Woodbridge, NJ 07095-0961 Original Source: www.hess.com/ehs/msds/0088No2FuelOil.pdf 07/01/2007
"MSDS for No. 4 Fuel Oil - home heating oil", Hess Corporation, 1 Hess Plaza, Woodbridge, NJ 07095-0961 Original Source: www.hess.com/ehs/msds/0088No2FuelOil.pdf 07/01/2007
Crude Oil MSDS from Martin Marietta Materials Corp., November 2007, Martin Marietta Materials, 2710 Wycliff Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607-3033 Effective Date: 8-07 (919) 781-4550, original source: http://www.martinmarietta.com/products/MSDS-CrudeOil.pdf
MSDS for Crude Oil, El Paso Corporation, and its subsidiaries Information: (713) 420-2600
1001 Louisiana Street CHEMTREC: (800) 424-9300 Houston, Texas 77002, original source 4/230/10 http://www.elpaso.com/msds/A0017-Crude%20Oil.pdf
MSDS for Corexit 9527, - Web Search 06/13/2010 original source - http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/corexit9527_6-14-92.htm and http://www.valdezlink.com/corexit.htm
MRL - Minimum risk level: this is an estimate of the level of daily human exposure to a substance such that the exposure is probably not an appreciable risk for adverse effects (noncancer) over a specified exposure time period.
"Worry About Dispersant Rises as Men in Work Crew Complain of Health Problems", The New York Times, 28 May 2010, p. A15.
"Agency Orders Use of a Less Toxic Chemical in Gulf", Campbell Robertson, Elisabeth Rosenthal, The New York Times, May 20, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21disperse.html?scp=1&sq=corexit&st=cse
"May 19, 2010 Addendum 2 to Dispersant Monitoring and Assessment Directive ("Addendum 2")", to Rear Admiral Mary Landry, Commander, Eighth Cost Guard District, New Orleans LA, and Samuel Coleman, P.E., Director, Superfund Division, Dallas TX, from Douglas J. Suggles - letter - Web Search 06/13/2010, original source: U.S. EPA http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/5-21bp-response.pdf
Nalco Energy Services, L.P. P.O. Box 87, Sugar Land, Texas 77487-0087, 281)263-7000, www.nalco.com
U.S. EPA - environmental Protection Agency, List of Approved Oil Dispersants - Web Search 06/13/2010 - original source http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/ncp/tox_tables.htm
U.S. Polychemical of Spring Valley, N.Y., makes dispersant Dispersit SPC 1000 - Web Search 06/13/2010: Dispersant SPC 1000 specifications sheet - see http://www.uspoly.com/disspec.html - Quoting:

Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 is an EPA reviewed, NCP listed water based dispersant to be used on oil discharges or oil spills in accordance with the procedures set forth by the U.S. Coast Guard and other governmental agencies. Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 has been included in the NCP Product Schedule for use as a dispersant for oil spills.
Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 is a unique aqueous composition with highly effective emulsifiers, dispersants and a water-soluble coupling solvent. Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 contains no petroleum solvents. Independent testing (J L Ross Env. Ltd.) confirmed that Dispersit has significant effectiveness in fresh and brackish water. Dispersit is particularly well suited for application via a vessel based education system because it maintains effectiveness when diluted with water unlike petroleum based products.
Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 has an overall effectiveness† of 73%, almost 50% better than the EPA requirement and the dominant product and has considerably less aquatic toxicity†† than the dominant petroleum based dispersant. Polychem Dispersit SPC 1000 contains no hazardous material and hence is user-friendly and environmentally safe.

U.S. Polychemical description of their product, Dispersit, includes an assessment of comparative health risks of water-based vesus oil-based oil dispersants: see http://www.uspoly.com/dispersit.html

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MSDS [Material Safety Data Sheet] information for No. 2 Home Heating Oil

Exposure Limits for No. 2 Home Heating Oil

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil - Petroleum Distillates in Air

Exposure Limits for Heating Oil or other Petroleum Distillates in Water

Carcinogenicity of Heating Oil - Cancer Risk

Crude Oil Material Data Safety Sheet - Crude Oil MSDS

Crude Oil Dispersant Material Data Safety Sheets - Dispersants Sprayed on Gulf or Injected into Gulf Oil Well Spill: Corexit, Dispersit, Others

Questions & Answers regarding this article

Ask a Question or Search InspectAPedia

Technical Reviewers & References

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