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Safety & Health Assessment & Research for Prevention (SHARP) — Research for Safe Work
Health and safety in the collision repair industry
SHARP is helping collision repair shops identify hazards and prevent injury and illness.
The collision repair industry is an example of a small business sector that faces numerous health and safety challenges. Workers are potentially exposed to a wide range of harmful substances while prepping and painting vehicles such as:
- Airborne particles.
- Organic solvents.
- Paint pigments.
- Other paint constituents.
Both painters and collision technicians are also potentially exposed to physical hazards while performing tasks such as:
- Dismantling vehicles.
- Sanding.
- Grinding.
- Painting.
Of particular concern is that finding that painters are at relatively high risk for developing work-related asthma from exposure to isocyanates. Most two-part paints and coatings used in automotive refinishing include an isocyanate-based catalyst or hardener.
Spray painting can generate a great deal of airborne isocyanates that painters and other nearby workers may breathe in if they are not adequately protected.
Workers may also absorb isocyanates into their bodies through their skin. This may occur when workers use bare hands to mix and shoot paint or clean up spills. During spray painting, isocyanates may also be absorbed by unprotected skin at the neck, wrists and on the face.
Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs and makes it increasingly hard to breathe. Workers who become sensitized to isocyanates and develop asthma usually can no longer work with automotive paints.
Isocyanate-exposed workers have died from asthma attacks. New information suggests that isocyanates can cause asthma both through inhaling the chemical and from absorbing isocyanates through the skin.
SHARP's collision repair study
Recognizing the potential for harmful exposures in this industry, SHARP interviewed leading collision repair shop owners, business association officers and other knowledgeable individuals to learn more about the health and safety needs of the industry.
SHARP then visited collision repair shops to gather first-hand information about workplace practices. After considering all this information from our industry partners, researchers and industrial hygienists, we developed a "needs assessment" survey that was mailed to every collision repair shop in Washington State.
The response rate to the survey was 69 percent, suggesting that our survey results are likely representative of Washington State's collision repair industry. Our study found that collision repair in Washington State is a male-dominated industry comprised chiefly of small, non-unionized, family-run businesses.
Many shops face numerous safety and health challenges resulting from a combination of misinformation within the industry, insufficient funds to address workplace health and safety concerns and social barriers to enforcing best practices within the shops. Problems associated with the selection and use of respirators and gloves are likely primarily responsible for isocyanate exposures. We also found that collision repair workers are potentially exposed to many additional chemical and physical hazards that deserve attention.
Read SHARP's Health and Safety in Washington State's Collision Repair Industry: A Needs Assessment (843 KB PDF / 5 min). You may request a paper copy of the report by contacting SHARP.
SHARP is continuing to work with this industry to study the most significant routes of exposure to isocyanates and develop recommendations to minimize exposures to isocyanates and other harmful chemicals. Thanks to the cooperation of approximately 25 collision repair shops in Washington State, we are teaming with the University of North Carolina to learn how isocyanates enter the body and whether there are genetic and metabolic markers that can be used to learn why some people are more susceptible to work-related asthma caused by isocyanates.
Get Help Downloading Files (files open in a new window).Interlaboratory comparison of isocyanate analytical methods
SHARP is working with the University of Washington's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health to conduct a "round robin" interlaboratory comparison study. This research will critically compare the methods used by different laboratories to analyze the isocyanates present in clear coat hardeners. The interlaboratory protocol (55 KB PDF) was developed with the help of several laboratories with expertise in isocyanate sampling and analysis.
Do the paints you use contain isocyanates?
Any two-part polyurethane coating (primer, basecoat or clearcoat) will likely contain isocyanates. The isocyanates are formulated into the hardener or catalyst. If you are unsure if you are using isocyanate containing paint systems, refer to your Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDSs). The most common isocyanate used in auto refinish coating systems is hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). Other isocyanates that may be used are 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI), 4,4'-diphenyl methane diisocyanate (MDI); and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI).
Getting help
Please contact SHARP for additional information about protecting workers from exposure to isocyanates and other harmful substances.
Request a Consultation. Contact the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) to request a confidential, no-charge safety and health consultation in Washington State.
Collision repair resources
- Working with small business - safety and health in the automotive collision repair industry.
- "Your Lungs, Your Skin, Your Life!" (www.babcox.com) SHARP's article on health & safety in the collision repair industry published in the October 2006 edition of the trade magazine BodyShop Business (bodyshopbusiness.com).
- SHARP has developed recommendations to prevent injury and illness and reduce workers' compensation costs in auto body shops.
- Auto refinishing best practices (www.epa.gov) and automotive refinishing publications (www.epa.gov) have been developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Program.
- Isocyanate information provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (www.cdc.gov) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (www.osha.gov).
- Isocyanates in spray-on truck bed linings in L&I's A-Z Topic Index.
- Crash Course for Compliance and Pollution Prevention (www.mass.gov) for the auto body repair industry from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
