Reprinted from ACJ - October, 1993
As I start this article, I don't want to offend anyone, so if you are sitting in the shop with your feet up on a car bumper munching on a sandwich and smoking a cigarette, why don't you read this article a little later.
If you're sitting in your shop lunchroom eating lunch after washing your hands and brushing any dust of your clothes before entering the clean area, read on.
The health hazards of eating, drinking and smoking in the shop work area should be of concern to all of us. But the hazard is so easily abated that all shops should be able to boast of a victory in the employee health and safety area with very little effort.
As we have discussed in the past, chemicals pass into our bodies by three main "routes of entry": inhalation, ingestion and skin absorption. We have seen how the use of gloves, dust masks, respirators and ventilation can keep us from chemical exposure as we work. But if we break for lunch, take off the protective gear and stay in the work area, we are not only removing the protection, but enabling chemicals to get directly into our lungs and stomachs by joyriding on our sandwich, coffee, pop or cigarette.
Eating and drinking as a source of contamination can be addressed together since they both act by the ingestion route of entry. Lead dust from grinding, sandblasting or even just wire brushing a header, lead fumes hovering after soldering, paint mists, and other chemical fumes and dust can all settle on your lunch or on the rim of your pop can or coffee cup. Certainly the amount of the exposure would be small, but it doesn't take much to elevate a blood lead level. The old saying applies, many acute exposures lead to chronic problems.
Besides the hidden contamination culprits discussed above, there is always the possibility of metal filings or just plain dirt becoming part of your morning donut. Not only do they ruin the taste of a jelly donut, but a metal sliver passing through your intestinal tract can be very unpleasant both for you and the metal.
While we are talking about the ingestion of toxins, a couple of other habits that facilitate contamination should be mentioned. Several studies have shown that mechanics who bite their fingernails have a higher blood lead level than those who don't.
The space between finger and nail is the perfect hiding place for many chemicals, especially lead. Be sure to use a nail brush as part of your hand washing ritual.
Gum chewing, toothpicks and chewing tobacco all can facilitate increased ingestion of chemicals even if you don't chew with your mouth open. So when in the backshop, do like the foreman says: "Keep your mouth shut and get to work."
Smoking in the work area not only aids inhalation of airborne contaminants with each long, deep drag off a cigarette, but dust, dirt and chemicals can get on the cigarette itself. They can settle out of the air or be transferred to the cigarette from dirty fingers. Each time you put it in your mouth, a small amount of the chemical is swallowed.
I won't preach about the dangers of smoking (I'll leave that to the Surgeon General), but if you add the possibility of chemical poisoning to the tally of smoking's hazards, it becomes a long list indeed.
The possibility of fire and explosion is another thing to keep in mind when looking at the hazards of a lit cigarette in the shop. Small gas leaks, fuel tank coating fumes, paint fumes and other miscellaneous solvent vapors can turn a casual smoke into a hot time in the old town tonight.
It has been suggested that smokers leave their cigarettes in their locker or in the break room. This reduces the temptation to light up, but more importantly, it keeps dust and fumes from settling on the pack as it sticks out of their shirt pocket. Of course, if you roll the pack up in your sleeve like the tough guys in the movies, you may not have that problem. Anyway, it's just common sense to keep this type of hazard out of the work area.
Limiting eating, drinking and smoking to an area away from the work area and requiring employees to wash up thoroughly prior to entering the break area can go a long way toward preventing chemical exposure. It makes OSHA smile when they see a separate lunchroom and your customers rarely appreciate an old fast food bag under the hood after you serviced their car … even if...
The above article was written by David M. Brown, Chief Engineer of Johnson Manufacturing Company, Inc. and is published by JOHNSON with the expressed approval of the National Automotive Radiator Service Association and the Automotive Cooling Journal. Other reproduction or distribution of this information is forbidden without the written consent of JOHNSON and NARSA/ACJ. All rights reserved.
JOHNSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY
114 Lost Grove Road / PO Box 96 / Princeton, Iowa 52768-0096
Phone 563-289-5123 or Fax 563-289-3825