Regulatory And Occupational Affairs In Bathtub Refinishing Business

Conditions of the Prohibition Notice

Discuss about the Regulatory and Occupational Affairs.

The paper concerns NUTUB Ltd a bathtub refinishing business. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has inspected John McGill and was given a Prohibition Notice due of the use of methylene chloride as a stripping agent on his premises and in the domestic environment. John needs to respond to the notice with a reasonable OSH management system for which I have to assist as an instructor.

John has received prohibition notice for his business activities. In order to respond to the notice it is essential for John to understand the conditions of prohibition notice and to know why he had not received an improvement notice.

I would instruct John that HSA issues prohibition notice only when it believes that a business activity has a potential of creating serious personal injury (Podgórski 2015). As per HSA the activity cannot be resumed until an action to remove the risk factor has been taken. In this case, use of methylene chloride by John as a stripping agent on his premises and in the domestic environment has been the cause of the prohibition notice.

Further, I would explain that methylene chloride used as solvent in pain strippers   includes various health risks for the workers and it is considered as carcinogen by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2017). The concentrated fumes of methylene chloride pose health risk for consumers and the workers particularly heart attack or asphyxiation, headache, and chemical burn. John uses this chemical in his premise as well as in the domestic setting.   The common means of exposure to this chemical is through inhalation and skin exposure. The Environment Protection Agency prohibits the use of this chemical for coating removal purpose (Zwetsloot 2014. The use of this chemical is more risky when used in the domestic environment then in factory. It is risky because of small bathrooms in home that have no or little ventilation. Since the vapours of the methylene chloride evaporate very quickly at the bottom of bath tub, the worker may have high risk due to quick replacement of the breathable air (Schreder et al., 2016).

I would explain John that improvement notice is given only when a business activity violates the “Health and Safety Law” in a serious manner or poses a high risk to people. So far the authority has not considered that the use of the chemical has violated the law or has caused serious health risk to the workers.

Chemical Hazards Risk Assessment for Methylene Chloride

The risk assessment for methylene chloride in the factory setting has been carried out but could not be conducted for domestic setting as it was not admissible.

Identification of hazards-

• Respiratory problems of the workers due to poor air monitoring, poor local exhaust ventilation
• Spillage of the concentrated methylene chloride
• Biological risks include heart attack, severe skin burns due to failure of personal protective equipment
• Accidents due to high level of exposure to the methylene chlorideC

The likelihood of the hazard can of four types-

• Likely- hazard is likely to occur sometime
• Very likely- hazard is very likely to occur any time
• Unlikely- the hazard may happen very rarely
• Very unlikely- hazard may probably never happenC

John needs to respond to the prohibition notice with safe working procedure to avoid prosecution. The instructions for John for this section are discussed in subsequent section.

The safe working procedure for the factory environment is modified after the prohibition notice after the inspection and it includes the following –

• Design and installation of the local exhaust ventilation using qualified OSH specialist- It can effectively control the vapours of methylene control to below applicable PELs (permissible exposure limits). This ventilation will provide fresh makeup air to exhaust the vapours released from the stripping agent used for refinishing the bathtubs
• Ensure that the fresh make up air is free of methylene contaminated vapours.

• Minimise the spraying of methylene chloride
• Use of brushers, scarpers and any other long-handled tools to avoid leaning into the bathtub
• The workplace will be left immediately after the application of chemical. It will limit the exposure to the harmful vapours (Hancock 2015)
• Workers will be supplied with personal protective equipment or PPE, protective gloves, and respirators, during the process of bathtub refinishing. These equipments are resistant to the vapours or fumes of methylene chloride (Podgórski 2015).
• In the operations that does not require respiratory protection the company ensures eye protection and provides face shield or googles

The company monitors the air in the workplace according to the OSHA standards of methylene chloride (Hall 2017). John is instructed to perform this act more stringently in the future and mention the same in his response with the corresponding reports.

Training will be provided to the employers on the use of personal protective equipment, routes of exposure of chemical. Trainers will be made aware of physical hazards of methylene and how to detect its leakage and presence. The workers will be informed about the operations that will lead to exposure to methylene chloride and how they can protect themselves. Training is provided to ensure that the those members who are exposed to methylene chloride above the OSHA standards that is 12.5 ppm or 125 ppm have good understanding of the health and safety principle (Zwetsloot 2014).

The safe working procedure for the domestic environment is modified after the prohibition notice after the inspection and it includes the following –

Workplace controls- Workers are instructed to work in domestic setting only if the bathroom is spacious with proper ventilation.

Training of workers- to perform effectively as the domestic environment is risky because of small bathrooms. Trainers instruct the use of flexible ductwork, fan or a hood near th tub to exhaust the vapours towards outdoors. For working in domestic setting workers are trained to maintain housekeeping measures involving spill and leak control. They are instructed to be aware of the skin washing areas prior to start of the work. Other instructions and use of PPE are same as that in the factory setting.

John is not aware of the health issues specific to the use of methylene chloride. As an instructor I had advised him about the regulatory health surveillance issues (Schreder et al. 2016). It includes-

• Carry out health risk assessment appropriate with the health surveillance regulations. These include biological monitoring, enquiries, inspections or examination such as lung function test by a suitably qualified person.
• The records of health issues identified and any adverse effects should be  maintained and retained for at least for 40 years
• The records of pre-employment health screening, primary and secondary monitoring should be maintained
• Records of injuries resulted from non-occupational and occupational accidents, history of sickness absence
• Confidentiality of the health records will be maintained all the time

According to the guidelines of REACH John is a downstream user. Downstream user refers to companies that buy chemicals in the EU and use them in their business activities.  As per the rules set by REACH the role of the John is to advance the safe use of chemicals in this case methylene chloride. John must implement the safe use of the chemical both in factory and in domestic setting. John is required to communicate necessary information to the customers (Health and Safety Authority 2017). Therefore, JOHN has duties under REACH.

 I would inform John about his duties under REACH (Health and Safety Authority. 2017) which are-

• Inform the supplier regarding the use of methylene chloride and ask the supplier to include the use in the registration dossier
• Ensure the safe use of methylene chloride by implementing the measures which the supplier has specified
• If the actual conditions of use and that provided by the supplier do not match than John must immediately contact the supplier
• Restrictions related to the use of the chemical must be complied
• If using a chemical that is under the Authorisation list then John must communicate with the supplier. John may apply for an authorisation for the use of chemical
• All the information on hazards should be obtained by John from the formulators including the conditions of safe use

The instructions on the hazardous waste management requirement (Chartier 2014) are –

• Liquid waste can be disposed by deep well injection as it does not require pre-treatment of waste
• Complete removal of waste material from the factory site and transport to another distant location for treatment
• Construction of secure landfill near the site and replace the waste completely
• Use of trenches made of bentonite clay backfilled with cement for full containment of waste
• Chemicals should not be disposed in trash or down drains without written authorization from the Chemical Safety Office
• Process the chemical waste through Chemical Inventory Database
• Proper labelling of hazardous waste container

Conclusion

 As an instructor of John all the information necessary to respond to the prohibition notice has been provided. Ensuring correct implementation of OSHA standards, ECHA, REACH and HSA guidelines will save John from prosecution.

References

Chartier, Y. ed., 2014. Safe management of wastes from health-care activities. World Health Organization.

Covello, V.T. and Merkhoher, M.W., 2013. Risk assessment methods: approaches for assessing health and environmental risks. Springer Science & Business Media.

Hall, R. 2017. Dangers of Bathtub Refinishing. [online] blogs.cdc.gov. Available at: https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2013/02/04/bathtub-refinishing/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017].

Hancock, P., 2015. Health and safety-an essential element of ethical practice. AusIMM Bulletin, (Apr 2015), p.38.

Health and Safety Authority 2017. [online] https://www.hsa.ie. Available at: https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Chemicals/REACH/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017].

Healthy and Safety Authority 2017. [online] www.hsa.ie/. Available at: https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Your_Industry/Chemicals/Legislation_Enforcement/REACH/Downstream_users/ [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017].

Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2017. [online] www.osha.gov. Available at: https://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/methylene_chloride_hazard_alert.html [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017].

Podgórski, D., 2015. Measuring operational performance of OSH management system–A demonstration of AHP-based selection of leading key performance indicators. Safety Science, 73, pp.146-166.

Schreder, E.D., Uding, N. and La Guardia, M.J., 2016. Inhalation a significant exposure route for chlorinated organophosphate flame retardants. Chemosphere, 150, pp.499-504.

Zwetsloot, G.I.J.M., 2014. What are occupational safety and health management systems and why do companies implement them?.

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