Reducing the health impacts
Employers must take action to reduce the health impact from dusts, coatings, solvents, noise and vibration by using:
- less dangerous abrasive materials
- less dangerous surface preparation methods including sodium bicarbonate blasting, carbon dioxide (dry ice) blast cleaning and blast cleaning with reusable sponge abrasives
- a blasting cabinet which is suitable for small objects, is fully sealed and the operator works from outside viewing the object through a sealed window
- a blasting chamber for objects too large to be treated inside a blasting cabinet with operators working inside wearing personal protective equipment
- temporary enclosures used when an object is too large to be transported (a bridge or a water tank) which consists of containment screens such as woven polypropylene fabric or rubber
- exclusion or buffer zones (where personnel, not associated with the blasting activity, are excluded from the vicinity)
Although open air blasting activities is not recommended, there may be sometimes no alternative.
Employers can reduce the number of people exposed to dusts, coatings, solvents, noise and vibration by:
- relocating or enclosing noisy equipment in acoustic enclosures
- moving the abrasive blasting site away from other workers
- doing blasting work outside normal working hours
- not blasting in windy conditions
- stopping other work on a site and moving people away while blasting
- job rotation
For further information on how to reduce the health impact from dusts, coatings, solvents and noise, refer to Abrasive Blasting Industry Code of Practice 2004 (parts A and B) or the noise area of this site.
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