COSHH and vehicle spray painters - key messages

Substances hazardous to health in vehicle spray painting include:

• paints, lacquers and under-seals.

Other substances hazardous to health in motor vehicle repair include:

• fuels, brake fluids and lubricants, including waste oil;
• fumes and gases from welding and cutting;
• dusts from abrasive wheels, etc;
• degreasing fluids, cleaning products, including strong hand cleaners;
• adhesives and fillers;
• battery acid.

Example: Spray painting with isocyanate-based two-pack top coat

Isocyanate can cause asthma. You must reduce exposure to isocyanate as far below the WEL of 0.02 mg/m³ (8 hours) and 0.07 mg/m³ (15 minutes) as reasonably practicable. You normally need to use health surveillance.

Isocyanate can also cause dermatitis.

Control measures include:

• enclosed, extracted spray booth marked with its clearance time;
• air-line respiratory protective equipment;
• other personal protective equipment;
• health surveillance for asthma and skin checks.

Help in identifying the right controls is on the MVR COSHH essentials web page. Control information for isocyanate appears in:

• MR1 Mixing two-pack paint, etc;
• MR2 Spraying two-pack products in a spray/bake booth;
• MR3 Cleaning two-pack spray guns;
• MR4 Brush or roller application of two-pack products;
• MR5 Flatting, SMART repair, welding, etc.

Visit the HSE MVR website for more information.

Employees

Your employer provides equipment to protect your health, such as:

• spray booth for all paint spraying (including gun washings);
• personal protective equipment.

You have a duty to use these properly and co-operate with any monitoring and health surveillance.