Rank: Forum user 
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Hi, Hoping someone can help with an issue I have not got a lot of experience with. I work in a plastic manufacturing and printing environment. Part of the process is to laminate the finished film and this requires the material to be stored at a certain temperature for 24 hours to cure. Our plant manager has moved the curing process into the print hall which has meant that the air flow fans have been switched off to ensure the room temperature is as required for this process. The issue is that by turning off the air flow the solvent fumes from the printing process have increased, to the extent that people are noticing the increased odour and wondering about the ill health effects. I have done the required CoSHH assessments based on the SDS for the solvent and the previous process which had a very good fresh air flow. Can anyone direct me to some relevant HSE or CoSHH specific guidance to the ill health effects of solvent fumes so that I can argue the case with the plant/production manager..
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Depends on the solvent - have you looked at EH40 to see if there are any occupational exposure limits? Isocyanate was a solevent that used to be used in car paint spraying (many now used water based) the extraction and PPE requirements for its use are well known.
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 1 user thanked HSSnail for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Originally Posted by: Brian Hagyard  Depends on the solvent - have you looked at EH40 to see if there are any occupational exposure limits? Isocyanate was a solevent that used to be used in car paint spraying (many now used water based) the extraction and PPE requirements for its use are well known.
The solvent is IDA99 the exposure limits have always been controlled due to the airflow system in the print hall, this brings in fresh air and extracts solvent into an RTO. The issue is that this also means the temperature is not high enough for the curing process, so the solution from our senior manager is to turn off the fresh air ventilation system. Even though the extraction is still on the solvent is heavier and sits with the machine operators.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I would have thought that the safety data sheet will have provided you with the information you need to speak to your manager. The stuff is also flammable so allowing it to accumulate in the workspace where machinery is running could result in an interesting situation!
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Rank: Super forum user
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as chris says the materials is flammable and your DSEAR assessment will rely on this as a control measures so switching it off can give you problems...being synical and having dealt with people like this (and been in the same position) over the years...his raction to COSHH will be get them to wear a mask...as the SDS says...so the most likely route for compliance would be to tell him that his entire stock could go up in flames!...that is assuming you have a Fire RA and DSEAR assessment iun place... :)
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2 users thanked stevedm for this useful post.
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