HEALTH & SAFETY Spray painting, mixing paint or cleaning spray guns can generate airborne isocyanates that painters and other nearby workers may breathe in or absorb into their bodies through their skin if not adequately protected. Isocyanates are chemicals that are powerful irritants to the mucous membranes of the eyes and gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Photo from iStock AUGUST 2016 | Collision Repair | 13 tive stress and other ergonomic injuries, lift ing and/or slippery and greasy walking surfaces. A safe and healthy workplace is a more productive workplace. Moreover, both vehicle collision repair shops, and their employees, benefi t when eff ective health and safety practices are created, implemented and maintained. Th is includes installing and maintaining control equipment and using safer paints and solvents. All this works to: • Reduce the risk of accidents. (Risk is a combination of the likelihood and severity or consequence of a specifi c hazardous event.) • Save money and avoid fi nes. • Improve employee morale and enhance goodwill. • Lower turnover. Both employers and workers have roles in eliminating potential hazards to keep their workplace safe. Safety and health legislation “places a general duty on employers, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees and others who may be aff ected by their work activities,” note offi cials with 3M Business Solutions (www.3m.com). In addition, legislation requires that employees “take reasonable care of their own safety and that of other people who may be aff ected by their actions,” and are also “required to cooperate with their employer to enable legal obligations to be met.” RISK ASSESSMENT To help prevent injury and illness in vehicle collision repair shops, it is wise to conduct a risk assessment, health and safety offi cials say. Basically, this involves taking a thorough look at a workplace to identify those things, situations, processes, etc., that may cause harm, particularly to people. Risk assessment estimator LIKELIHOOD OF HARM SLIGHT HARM MODERATE HARM EXTREME HARM Very unlikely • Very low risk • Very low risk • High risk Unlikely • Very low risk • Medium risk • Very high risk Likely • Low risk • High risk • Very high risk Very likely • Low risk • Very high risk • Very high risk Tolerance criteria CATEGORY OF RISK EVALUATION OF TOLERABILITY Very low risk • Acceptable. No further action necessary. Low risk • No additional controls are required unless they can be implemented at very low cost in terms of time, money and effort. Medium risk • Consideration should be given to lowering the risk to an acceptable level, but the costs of additional risk reduction measures should be taken into account. High risk • Substantial efforts should be made to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Risk reduction measures should be implemented urgently. Very high risk • These risks are unacceptable. Substantial improvements are necessary to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. The activity should be halted until risk controls are implemented that reduces the risk so that it is no longer very high. Continued Page 15 ONLINE EXCLUSIVE To learn about best shop-safe work practices that reduce worker exposure to hazardous chemicals and prevent pollution, visit: VehicleServicePros. com/12216924
FleetMaintenance_August_2016
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