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Hazard Alert: Solvents

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  • Corporate Authors:
    CPWR--The Center for Construction Research and Training
  • Description:
    What is a Solvent? Solvents are chemicals used to thin or dissolve paint, grease, epoxies, adhesives, and coatings. There are many different types of solvents. Some are found under their chemical name and some are added to products. What is the risk? According to NIOSH, solvents are hazardous to your health when: Breathed in - Solvents can evaporate quickly into a vapor. Inhaling the vapor can irritate or burn your nose, throat and lungs. You can smell solvents that have a strong odor, but some have no odor. Touched - Solvents can irritate the skin causing dryness and cracks. Do not wash your hands with a solvent. Swallowed - Solvents that get into your mouth and stomach can irritate or burn your mouth, throat, stomach and intestine. Wash your hands before eating or drinking. Solvents can get into your bloodstream when they are breathed in, touched or swallowed. Once in your blood, they can travel throughout your body causing serious health effects. In the short term, they can make you feel dizzy, sleepy, nauseous, or give you a headache. Long term exposure to solvents can damage your nervous system, reproductive system, liver, kidneys, respiratory system, and cause cancer. Solvents are also flammable. If they catch on fire, you can be burned. Protect Yourself... 1. Get Training: OSHA requires employers to train their employees about chemical hazards they will be exposed to on the job, give them safety data sheets (SDS), and label products. The SDS tells you what chemicals are in a product and how hazardous they are with Category 1 being the most hazardous. 2. Prevent exposure: Ask your employer if there is a water-based product that can be used instead. If safer products are not available, a ventilation system should be used near the source to remove solvent vapors before they reach your breathing zone. Fans can help ventilate the area, but they do not remove the hazard. Use caution when working in a confined space. Your employer is required to provide proper ventilation and to assign a competent person to make sure the space is safe. Check with the competent person before starting work. 3. Wear personal protective equipment: OSHA requires employers to provide and maintain protective equipment for chemical hazards. Wear gloves and respiratory protection for the solvent you are using, as well as long sleeves and eye protection. Use a NIOSH-approved respirator. Cartridges are color coded. For example, organic vapor cartridges are black and used with organic solvents. Paper and HEPA respirators DO NOT protect against solvents. OSHA requires employers to provide respirators and have a Respiratory Protection program in place. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Series:
    CPWR - Center for Construction Research and Training Publications
  • Subseries:
    Hazard Alerts
  • Publisher:
    CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Fact Sheet
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    1 pdf page
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20061485
  • Citation:
    Silver Spring, MD: CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 2020 Nov; :1
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2021
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Construction
  • Performing Organization:
    CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20090901
  • End Date:
    20240831
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:e40f5f55afcc6c4b09b87faed1c9bd368a7aa1d0c3ba1e2984ea8774531d04674f6a560e109cdefa79bfc1cad4bc59f84eb99881d3e10ac925e89d3e5f02dd08
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 180.21 KB ]
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