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Showing posts with label Methylene chloride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Methylene chloride. Show all posts

Friday, February 4, 2022

OSHA fines New Jersey company $130,000 for methylene chloride violations

 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a New Jersey company $130,000 for methylene chloride violations. Exposure to paint strippers containing methylene chloride remains a severe health concern for workers. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to extend the United States Environmental Protection [EPA] agency's regulations to cover methylene chloride in the commercial setting.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Methylene Chloride Continues to be a Fatal Hazard in the Workplace

Exposure to paint strippers containing methylene chloride remains a severe health concern for workers. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to extend the United States Environmental Protection [EPA] agency's regulations to cover methylene chloride in the commercial setting.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Workers exposed to common paint strippers suffer fatal reactions

Litigation is advancing against the distributors and resellers of paint strippers containing methylene chloride and NMP. The lawsuits were filed for damages resulting from the alleged exposure, illness and death of users of the products.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Furniture plant workers repeatedly exposed to safety and health hazards in Northern New Jersey

OSHA fines 2 employers more than $196K

The investigation was conducted at Sterling Seating Inc.'s furniture manufacturing plant at 9 Porete Avenue in North Arlington, New Jersey. On Target Staffing LLC, a staffing company that provided laborers for Sterling is located at 258 Clifton Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

On July 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 25 repeat, 15 serious and twoother-than-serious safety and health citations to Sterling Seating. On Target Staffing received one repeat and two serious health citations. OSHA initiated an inspection in January after receiving a complaint alleging unsafe working conditions at Sterling's plant. Inspectors observed hazards to temporary workers, resulting in a separate inspection of the staffing company.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Hazards exist in the surface refinishing business

University of Iowa, College of Public health, recently reported the death of a bathtub refinishingt technician who died from the inhalation of paint stripper vapors.

In 2012, a 37-year-old female technician employed by a surface-refinishing business died from inhalation exposure to methylene chloride and methanol vapors while she used a chemical stripper to prep the surface of a bathtub for refinishing. The technician was working alone without respiratory protection or ventilation controls in a small bathroom of a rental apartment. When the technician did not pick up her children at the end of the day, her parents contacted her employer, who then called the apartment complex manager after determining the victim’s personal vehicle was still at the refinishing company’s parking lot.

The apartment complex manager went to the apartment unit where the employee had been working and called 911 upon finding the employee unresponsive, slumped over the bathtub. City Fire Department responders arrived within 4 minutes  of the 911 call. The apartment manager and first responders reported a strong chemical odor in the  second story apartment. There was an uncapped gallon can of Klean Strip Aircraft® Low Odor Paint  Remover (80-90% methylene chloride, 5-10% methanol) in the bathroom. The employee’s tools and knee pad were found in the tub, suggesting the employee had been kneeling and leaning over the tub wall to manually remove the loosened original bathtub finish coat.

The factors contributing to this lethal exposure include use of a highly concentrated methylene chloride chemical stripper having poor warning properties (“Low Odor”); working in a small room without local exhaust ventilation to remove chemical vapors or provide fresh air; and working without a respirator that could have protected the employee from exposure.

Read More about "occupational exposure"

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