Respiratory Protection from Isocyanate Exposure in the Autobody Repair and Refinishing Industry

Authors: Liu, Youcheng¹; Stowe, Meredith¹; Bello, Dhimiter²; Woskie, Susan²; Sparer, Judy¹; Gore, Rebecca²; Youngs, Fred²; Cullen, Mark¹; Redlich, Carrie¹

Source: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, Volume 3, Number 5, May 2006 , pp. 234-249(16)

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd

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Abstract:

This study, part of the Survey of Painters and Repairers of Auto bodies by Yale (SPRAY), evaluated the effectiveness of respiratory protection against exposure to aliphatic polyisocyanates. A total of 36 shops were assessed for respiratory protection program completeness; 142 workers were measured for respirator fit factor (FF) using PortaCount Plus respirator fit tester. Twenty-two painters from 21 shops were sampled using NIOSH method 5525 to determine the workplace protection factor (WPF) of negative pressure, air-purifying half-facepiece respirators equipped with organic vapor cartridges and paint prefilters during spray-painting and priming activities. Only 11 shops (30%) had written respiratory protection programs. Eighty percent of all fit tested workers passed the test on the first try with FF ≥ 100, and 92% passed the second test after respirator use training. Overall geometric mean (GM) FF was 1012 for all fit tested workers. Significant differences on pass rate (92% vs. 72%) and on FF (1990 vs. 736) were found between previously fit tested workers vs. nontested workers. Twenty-nine WPF samples were collected. The outside facepiece GM concentration of total isocyanate group (NCO) was 378.4 μ g NCO/m 3 with 96% concentrations exceeding the U.K. short-term exposure limit, 70 μ g NCO/m 3 , but no in-facepiece concentrations exceeded the limit. The GM WPF of total NCO was 319 (GSD 4) and the 5th percentile was 54. WPF of total NCO was positively correlated with the duration of painting task. FF positively correlated with WPF when FF was ≤450 but negatively correlated with WPF when FF was >450. We conclude that negative pressure, air-purifying half-facepiece respirators equipped with organic vapor cartridges and paint prefilters provide effective protection against isocyanate exposure in spray and priming operations if workers are properly trained and fitted.

Keywords: aliphatic polyisocyanates; hexamethylene diisocyanates (HDI); quantitative fit test; respiratory protection; survey of painters and repairers of auto bodies by; workplace protection factor

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15459620600628704

Affiliations: 1: Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 2: Department of Work Environment, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts

Publication date: 2006-05-01

Respiratory Protection from Isocyanate Exposure in the Autobody Repair and Refinishing Industry

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