Confined spaces in the interior of ships should be adequately ventilated before, after, and during work; all persons who use the paints should have opportunity for washing given them at their work places, and should be compelled to avail themselves of these facilities; indulgence in alcohol and smoking should be prohibited; receptacles in which quick-drying paints are sold should be provided with an air-tight cover and with a warning notice as to the danger of the contents.
Paints made from petroleum fractions of low boiling-point, light coal-tar oils, turpentine oil, carbon bisulphide, and similar substances, are to be regarded as injurious to health.
Persons under eighteen, and women, should not be allowed to work with quick-drying paints.
Obligatory notification of cases of poisoning by hydrocarbons and other similar poisonings would have a good effect.
Schaefer (Inspector of Factories in Hamburg) has drawn up the following leaflet for painters, varnishers, workers in dry docks, and others engaged in painting with quick drying paints and oils:
All quick-drying paints and oils are more or less injurious to health and very inflammable, as they contain volatile substances such as benzine (naphtha, petrol ether), benzene, turpentine oil, carbon bisulphide, &c. These paints are mostly used in painting interiors of ships, boilers, machinery, apparatus, &c., and come on the market under various names, such as Black Varnish Oil, Solution, Patent Colour, Anti-corrosive, Dermatin, Acid-proof Paint, Apexior, Saxol, &c.
Even at ordinary temperatures the volatile fluids used as mediums for dry paint powders, or as a first coating, evaporate. Air filled with the fumes is not only harmful to health, but liable to explosion. Working with these paints and oils in the interior of ships, or steam boilers and the like, has repeatedly led to explosions and fatal poisoning.
Danger of Poisoning.—All persons are exposed to the danger of poisoning who use quick-drying paints in the interior of rooms or receptacles, or otherwise manipulate the paints. The warmer the room and the less ventilation there is before and during the painting, the greater the danger of poisoning. On the other hand, use of these paints in the open air is generally without effect.
Poisoning arises from inhaling the fumes of hydrocarbons. The symptoms are oppression, headache, inclination to vomit, cough, hiccough, giddiness, noises in the ears, drunken-like excitement, trembling and twitching. Inhalation of larger quantities brings on, quite suddenly and without previous warning, unconsciousness, which may last many hours and is often fatal. Except in severe cases the symptoms generally soon disappear, if the affected person withdraws from further contact with the fumes. The most effective protection therefore against poisoning is fresh air and temperance. In so far as painting with quick-drying materials is necessary in workrooms, interiors of ships, water and ballast tanks, double bottoms, bunkers, bilges, cabins, boilers and receptacles, care must be taken to ensure thorough ventilation before, after, and while the work is going on. Where no sufficient ventilation is possible these paints ought not to be used. Frequent intermission of work by a short stay in the open air is useful. When working in spaces not easily accessible, the worker should be roped.
Speaking, singing, or whistling during work favours inhalation of the fumes and is, therefore, to be avoided. Indulgence in spirits, especially during working hours, increases the danger of poisoning. Habitual drinkers should not be allowed to work at all with quick-drying paints and oils.