Solvents in Construction: Hazard Alert

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Center to Protect Workers' Rights
• Description:
  Solvents are liquids used to: 1) Dissolve greases, oils, and paints; 2) Thin or mix pigments, paints, glues, pesticides, and epoxy resins; and 3) Remove paint and other materials from surfaces, such as steel. Solvents are in adhesives, carpet glues, cleaning fluids, epoxy resins, hardeners, lacquers, mastics (asphalt or coal-tar), paints, paint thinners, and primers. They are used to clean tools, too. Examples of solvents are acetone, alcohol, benzene, epichlorohydrin, esters, gasoline, glycol ethers, heptane, hexane, kerosene, ketones, methanol, methylene chloride, mineral spirits, naphtha, toluene, trichloroethane (methyl chloroform), turpentine, and xylene. The Hazards: You can be exposed to solvents if you: 1) Breathe them (This can happen when you mix glue or paint - or spray or brush them - because solvents evaporate fast.). 2) Get them on your skin (Many solvents can go through your skin. For some solvents, the danger is as bad as if you breathe them). 3) Swallow them. Solvents get into body fat in the skin, nerves, and brain. Many solvents can catch fire, even in cold weather. Protect Yourself: Very small exposures over many months can harm you. So can one large exposure. A very large exposure can kill you. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Acetone Adhesives Benzene Butanones Chemistry Coal Coal Tar Construction Industry Epoxy Resins Esters Ethane Ether Glycols Hazardous Substances Hexanes Hydrocarbons Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Paint Safety Safety Management Solvents Toluene Workplace Xylenes

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• Keywords:
  Acetones Alcohols Asphalt-fumes Benzenes Chemical-cleaning Chemical-reactions Cleaning-compounds Coal-tar Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Employee-exposure Epoxy-resins Ethanes Ethers Hazardous-materials Injuries Injury-prevention Ketones Methyl-compounds Mineral-spirits Organic-solvents Paint-thinners Paints Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Solvent-extraction Solvent-vapor-degreasing Solvent-vapors Toluenes Toxic-dose Toxic-effects Toxic-materials Toxic-vapors Turpentines Work-environment Work-practices Worker-health

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• Series:
  CPWR - Center for Construction Research and Training Publications
• Publisher:
  The Center to Protect Workers' Rights
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  2 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039613
• Citation:
  Silver Spring, MD: The Center to Protect Workers' Rights, 2004 Dec; :1-2
• Contact Point Address:
  Building and Construction Trades Dept., AFL-CIO: CPWR, Suite 1000, 8484 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910
• CAS Registry Number:
  1,1,1-Trichloroethane (CAS RN 71-55-6) ; Acetone (CAS RN 67-64-1) ; Asphalt (CAS RN 8052-42-4) ; Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Dichloromethane (CAS RN 75-09-2) ; Epichlorohydrin (CAS RN 106-89-8) ; Heptane (CAS RN 142-82-5) ; Hexane (CAS RN 110-54-3) ; Kerosene (CAS RN 8008-20-6) ; Methanol (CAS RN 67-56-1) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; Xylene (CAS RN 1330-20-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040801
• Source Full Name:
  Skin Problems in Construction: Hazard Alert
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:753ed38de9c90d36de8a69942683c09a1cd0ef17658266b47903dfb79a76571128ebc278bad3471f26f4c31571fbc57ac1c952a6c4227c37da6cf75d07b28ea5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213101/cdc_213101_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 31.34 KB ]