CONTROL OF ISOCYANATE EXPOSURE IN MOTOR …

1 Inspection Topic Pack CONTROL of ISOCYANATE EXPOSURE in MOTOR vehicle repair (MVR) bodyshops Disease Reduction Programme Version 7, October 2007 KEY vehicle Paint Bodyshop INTRODUCTION TO MVR BODYSHOP TOPIC MVR Topic Topic Pack accompanying Occupational asthma and MVR population at Occupational asthma (OA) risk amongst vehicle spray painters ..5 Current awareness of ISOCYANATE What happens to MVR bodyshop workers who contract OA?..5 Prevention is better than How are bodyshop workers exposed and how can this be prevented?..6 Other MVR bodyshop substance-related health risks- occupational MVR BODYSHOP NATIONAL Some background on influencing small/micro businesses to change their Project target aims and Project process and Project outcomes so far (04-05 and 05-06).

2 9 MVR NATIONAL PROJECT SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND INSPECTION OF MVR Inspecting and influencing MVR bodyshop businesses and recording MVR Bodyshop Action COIN Work Incumbent Inspection Health Priorities Occupational Health priorities MVR BODYSHOP INSPECTION, PROCEDURES PLUS HINTS AND Using bodyshop address Visiting MVR bodyshop SHAD posters and other On-site Assessment of clearance time and booth/room ISOCYANATE EXPOSURE Spray room exhaust filtration Common Matters of Evident Concern ..16 Some ENFORCEMENT CONTROL MEASURES ENFORCEMENT NOTICE Generic Prohibition Notice (PN) Improvement Notice (IN) Appendix 1 Common paint and hardener Appendix 2 Spray booth/room clearance time & leakage Appendix 3 - MOTOR vehicle Repair Bodyshop, Substances and Health, Action Appendix 4 Paint Spraying of Large - 2 - Finding dutyholders - Information Messages from Large vehicles (VPS) - specific Clearance Spraying large Spray booths with pits - ISOCYANATE Topic Pack work at What is work at height?

3 39 What are the problems?..39 Things to look Some common Enforcement Spray Falls from Further information and HSE websites:..41 Figure 1. A booth for a semi Figure 2. Several visor protectors attached to a visor using adhesive Figure 3. A diagram of a generic commercial type downdraft booth with a working pit and floor extraction. Arrows indicate air Figure 4. A diagram of a generic commercial type downdraft booth with a working pit and side extraction. Arrows indicate air Figure 5. Photograph of a booth featuring double doors, personal operator door, open working pit, air inlet filters, floor air extraction filters and grille, strippable wall cover and fillet light panels.

4 Normally the pit should be covered when not in Figure 6. Photograph taken during a smoke test. The smoke clears much slower from an unventilated working pit compared to the rest of the Figure 7. Longitudinal cross sectional diagram view of cross-draft booth with working pit. Air enters the booth through filters in the ceiling at one end of the booth (left of diagram) and is extracted through a grating and filter in the floor at the other end (right of the diagram). Arrows indicate general air Figure 8. Air movement test using smoke in the working pit of a Figure 9. Depiction of the downdraft booth with floor extraction and extraction in the side of the pit.

5 Arrows indicate the air movement Figure 10. A diagram of a commercial type downdraft booth with extraction in the floor of the pit. Arrows indicate mean air Figure 11 Cross sectional diagram of a booth with a ventilated pit. The direction of air movement is indicated with black arrows and shows the ventilation Figure 12. Photograph of the pit being filled by a smoke machine operator while extraction is turned on: as the operator traverses the pit the smoke behind him is rapidly removed from the Figure 13. Photo of a working pit extraction vent and the booth floor ventilation48 Figure 14. A vehicle lift system in a booth. The vehicle in question is a coach that has been lowered into the floor.

6 The object in the centre of the booth is the coach Figure 15. Moving platform built into the side of a spray Figure 16. A mobile platform used to access the sides of double decker buses. The platform allows the operator to move easily along the length of the Figure 17. A view of a similar platform to that in Figure 16 in a lower Annex 1. Draft letter for to accompany improvement notice for work at - 3 - KEY MESSAGES vehicle Paint Sprayers Spraying 2-pack ISOCYANATE products can cause severe occupational asthma and vehicle paint sprayers are at greatest risk If you get occupational asthma caused by ISOCYANATE paints you will not be able to continue working as a paint sprayer The risk happens because paint spraying produces a lot of invisible airborne mist that you can breath in.

7 Never spray paint outside the booth or room Your booth/room takes time to clear of mist, so know the clearance time and make sure everyone else does too. Always wear air-fed breathing apparatus (BA) and know how to safely leave or enter your booth or room during the clearance time Your employer should check the controls are working by measuring your EXPOSURE to ISOCYANATE You need regular health surveillance Bodyshop owners/managers Spraying 2-pack ISOCYANATE paints creates fine, invisible, airborne mist that can cause occupational asthma It spreads through the air like invisible smoke Your spray booth or room takes time to clear of fine paint mist.

8 Measure the clearance time using a smoke/fog generator, put it on the entrance door(s) in large type and make sure everyone who uses the booth/room knows what to do Make sure the booth or room runs at slight negative pressure so that it cannot leak fine mist during spraying Make a list of simple daily and weekly checks to be done on the booth/room, appoint someone to do them, record the findings and act if things are wrong Check EXPOSURE is properly controlled by measuring it using biological monitoring Arrange regular health surveillance for those potentially exposed to ISOCYANATE paints such as sprayers INTRODUCTION TO MVR BODYSHOP TOPIC PACK HSE has established a Disease Reduction Programme (DRP)

9 As part of the FIT3 Strategic Programme. The DRP aims to achieve a reduction in the incidence of work-related ill-health caused by EXPOSURE to hazardous agents, this includes the common causes of occupational asthma. MVR businesses About 170,000 people are employed in MVR in about 44,000 businesses spread across the UK, including about 8000 bodyshops. The vast majority are micro-businesses, which are particularly hard to reach and influence. The MVR Project has been developed to directly and indirectly influence bodyshops to improve ISOCYANATE EXPOSURE CONTROL . Topic Pack Like other Topic Packs for HSE inspectors this Pack is designed to be relatively self-contained, but please also read the latest SIM 03/2006/04 The Pack: outlines a basic description of the industry; the risk in MVR bodyshops, from EXPOSURE to substances; how the risk occurs; the MVR national Project aim, objectives and outline plans; further resources; Page 4 of 52 A fairly detailed set of notes on how best to conduct bodyshop inspections and complete the IRF; guidance on enforcement, including an enforcement guidance table plus some model IN wordings and Schedules.

10 Topic Pack accompanying documents This Topic Pack refers to an Action Plan for MVR bodyshops to use and instructions on how to measure test for clearance time and leakage. If you have not got the Plan, or clearance time documents, in Word format email: Occupational asthma and ISOCYANATE Over a thousand people contract occupational asthma each year in the UK. The single biggest causative agent is ISOCYANATE , which, in 2001 2003, accounted for about 16% of the total. The highest risk group exposed to isocyanates is vehicle spray painters in the MOTOR vehicle repair (MVR) industry. Most of the people who contracted asthma are sprayers but about 10% of people diagnosed with occupational asthma do other work such as body preparation.