Inspection Detail

Inspection: 126074632 - Ca Dept Of Motor Vehicles

Inspection Information - Office: Long Beach District Office

Investigation Summary

At 10:00 a.m. on August 16, 2000, the local DOSH Office received notification from Fatima Secrest, Union Local President, of California Painter Inc., about a catastrophe that took place at the Compton DMV (State of California). At around 8:30 a.m., on August 14, several DMV employees who were servicing the public became exposed to residual paint vapors from a painting job that was done over the weekend. The employees experienced adverse health effects including, irritation of the eyes and throat, headache, light headedness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incoordination, difficulty in breathing, elevated blood pressure and heart palpitation. Paramedics were called to the scene and after initial treatment three of the exposed DMV employees as well as three paramedics were transported via ambulance to the emergency unit of Suburban Medical Center. DMV hired an outside painting contractor, California Painter Inc., to paint the interior of the main public service area. Various types of water-based paints and solvent-based paints were used, including thinners and primer. On August 14th, when employees came back to work around 7:45 a.m., there was the presence of a strong paint odor, and a number of employees became ill. Numerous cans of paint, thinner, epoxy coating, and mineral spirits were found. DOSH's short term air sampling indicated trace levels of stoddard solvent in the air. The investigation also revealed that there were no engineering controls in place to reduce airborne paint vapors during the painting job and before the DMV employees started back to work after the weekend.

Keywords: LACQUER THINNER, VAPOR, HEADACHE, INHALATION, NAUSEA, PAINT, DIZZINESS, PAINT SOLVENT, CHEMICAL VAPOR