Guide Spray Painting 415
Guide Spray Painting 415
Guide Spray Painting 415
PAINTING
GUIDE
2001
Disclaimer
This publication may contain occupational health and safety and workers compensation information. It may include some of your obligations under the
various legislations that WorkCover NSW administers. To ensure you comply with your legal obligations you must refer to the appropriate legislation.
Information on the latest laws can be checked by visiting the NSW legislation website (www.legislation.nsw.gov.au) or by contacting the free hotline
service on 02 9321 3333.
This publication does not represent a comprehensive statement of the law as it applies to particular problems or to individuals or as a substitute for
legal advice. You should seek independent legal advice if you need assistance on the application of the law to your situation.
WorkCover NSW
Contents
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What are the hazards associated with spray painting? How can they affect
health and safety?
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Who needs to know about your spray painting health and safety plan?
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The most likely questions a WorkCover inspector will ask about work
involving spray painting
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employees
clarify issues
plan
INJURY/ILLNESS/DISEASE
Hazardous substances
Exposure to hazardous
the paint).
consciousness, death.
or hot surfaces.
Electricity
consciousness, death.
Plant
shock.
electrocution.
Manual handling
drums.
Noise
This Tool is not a comprehensive guide to spray painting hazards. It provides examples of typical
problems created by spray painting, and some of the injuries, illnesses and diseases that can result. You
may have hazards other than those listed here.
The guidance in this booklet is concentrated on hazardous substances and fire related hazards.
The information in the MSDS is vital to safe and healthy spray painting operations. You must have an
MSDS for each substance you use. Manufacturers and suppliers must provide this information to the
employer, who in turn, must pass it on to all employees who may be exposed to the substance. This
information must be kept up to date.
Employers cannot use hazardous substances for certain purposes. The substances you
must not use in spray painting are listed opposite.
You must establish what substance is being used, and whether it is prohibited for use in spray painting.
Arsenic or its compounds
Benzene (benzol) if the substance contains more than 1 % by volume
Methanol (methyl alcohol) if the substance contains more than 1 % by volume
Carbon Disulphide (Carbon Bisulphide)
Tetrachloroethane
Tetrachloromethane (Carbon Tetrachloride)
For other hazardous substances, like those used in two pack paints, you must work out how they might
affect the health and safety of employees (and others, such as customers or visitors). Understanding how
the substance can cause harm allows you to build in ways of preventing exposure to these dangers.
The Preparation assessment factors that you should take into account include:
Colour matching involving spraying could lead to inhalation and skin contact
Spray painting releases aerosols and vapours which present risks to health
Clean up using solvents could result in high level, short term inhalation and skin contact
Working out the risk involved at each stage will depend on the practices you are currently using to
minimise exposure. This is explained in more detail later in the booklet.
The nature and effectiveness of booths used to isolate people from spray hazards
Some workplaces use fully automated spray painting processes, in which objects are fully enclosed in a
booth and employees are separated from hazardous substances. Automotive spraying, for example,
requires a fully enclosed booth. In most cases a combination of booths and personal protective equipment
will be required. The likelihood of exposure is greatest where the enclosure does not effectively isolate the
painter, or other employees.
On a building site spray painting may not be practicable in a booth. Measures to protect employees and
others in the area must be taken to deal with the potential for exposure.
The adequacy and suitability of an enclosure or spray booth is a technical matter. Specific guidance set
out in the Standards Australia document AS/NZS 4114.1 Spray Painting Booths Part 1Design,
Construction and Testing should be considered.
If it is not practicable to carry out spray painting in a booth OHS Regulation 2001 sets out
specific measures and separation distances to isolate spray painting from obstructions to
ventilation, people and processes. These measures require the spray painting process to be
isolated from any sources of ignition and that persons working on other processes cannot
inhale substances from spray painting. Any persons carrying out spray painting in these
circumstances must wear appropriate personal protective equipment.
Where spray painting is undertaken outside a booth, a zone must be designed to isolate the activity from
other people and from potential sources of ignition. This zone can be both a physical barrier to restrict
access or a time period over which concentrations of hazardous substances will break down to an
acceptable level.
These considerations will depend on the assessment done in the preparation stage.
OHS Regulation 2001 sets out specific measures for electrostatic spray painting.
Equipment must have automatic power disconnection and warning devices that activate if
any conveyor carrying articles through the high voltage electric field stops. Hand held
equipment must he effectively earthed along with the articles being painted, metal work
of a booth and any metal articles inside or within 2 metres of the booth. A sign bearing
the words DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE must be clearly attached to equipment used in
electrostatic spray painting and an exhaust system must be in operation whilst any
electrostatic spray painting is undertaken.
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Keep records of the hazardous substances you use, and of how you have assessed the
problems they present in your workplace
You are required to do this by law. In any case it is an essential part of your risk control plan, as it
provides a ready reference as to how things should be managed.
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setting up the system to ensure the air flows through the spray zone and does not re-enter the work area.
These recommendations also apply to preparation and clean up tasks and areas.
Use clean up and storage practices that minimise exposure and fire risks
Use of water based cleansers, soaking cleaning rags in "wet bins", and ensuring surplus or unused product
is correctly labelled and sealed are among the standard practices that should be adopted. Make sure
suitable wash up facilities are available.
Storage of substances should also take into account their other properties (as flammables or combustibles).
Use of separate storage areas and storage cabinets will be required to meet legal obligations in regard to
Dangerous Goods. Waste paint, solvents and clean up materials must be safely disposed of.
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If new information is obtained about a previously unidentified hazard, review your preventative
measures.
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Health surveillance is required where your assessment shows employees are exposed to a risk to health
from one of the hazardous substances, listed as a scheduled substance under OHS Regulation 2001.
Isocyanates regularly found in two pack spray paint are scheduled substances. Health surveillance may
also be required where there is a reasonable likelihood of an adverse health effect occurring under the
particular conditions of work.
You should check Chapter 6 Hazardous Substances of the OHS Regulation 2001 to establish what health
surveillance you need to do.
Employees
Employees must know and be consulted on the harmful effects that may result from spray painting, and
the measures in place for their protection. They must also recognise the physical 'warning signs' if their
health is affected by work involving spray painting.
Provision of MSDS is required by law, and is the best first step in advising employees of hazards and
recommended safeguards. You must consider the needs of employees whose first language is not English,
and make sure they understand both the risks and the chosen controls.
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How do I know if the spray booth I use is effective in removing vapours and aerosols from the
area where the spray painter is working?
There are specific standards (available from Standards Australia) describing the airflow rate which should
be achieved, and you can have this tested. Also, you can have atmospheric monitoring conducted that will
tell you whether employee exposure to the substance you are using is within the required limits.
If I am using two pack paints do I have to use a full face air supplied respirator and have the
health of employees checked?
Yes. Two pack paints contain isocyanates and are listed as hazardous substances that require health
surveillance. Unless you can demonstrate that there are minimal risks you will need to arrange health checks
as required by the regulation. MSDS for these substances state that full face air supplied respirators
should be used. This protection should be used in combination with a suitably ventilated enclosure.
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containing hexamethylene
diisocyanate.
Recommended Actions:
contact.
paint
skin sensitisation.
short breaks
Special Measures:
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Notes
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