How to Improve Operator Safety in the Paint Mixing Room

Your paint mixing room is a dangerous and unhealthy environment for operators. In this article we list the most important safety issues in the paint mixing room and how you can tackle them.

Every paint line owner is responsible for the health and safety of its employees. As you are working in a dangerous environment, you should take the appropriate safety measures to protect your operators from the biggest safety issues in the paint mixing room.

1. Loud and dirty environment
   A paint mixing room has several pneumatic pumps that produce a lot of noise. The best way to protect operators from this noisy and stressing environment is to let them stay in as short time as possible. Traditional paint mixing rooms are also far from clean and tidy. Spoiled paint, dust and other undesired substances can cause health issues.
   
   
2. Mainly hazardous areas
   When entering the paint mixing room, operators are potentially exposed to a variety of hazardous substances. Exposure to these substances, either through inhalation of vapours, aerosols or mists, or absorption through the skin, may cause injury or ill-health including respiratory problems, such as asthma and even lung cancer.
   
   
3. Unsafe operator practices
   A traditional paint mixing room requires a lot of manual labour: checking paint levels, adding new paint, monitoring and controlling tank and fluid parameters, changing settings, etc. Even when ventilated, workers are exposed to some level of toxic chemicals while in the closed and confined area of the paint mixing room. As many paints are also flammable, improper handling or use may also cause fire or explosion.

There is an easy and cost-effective way to increase operator safety in the paint mixing room: Graco’s Intelligent Paint Kitchen. It’s a smart set of sensors, actuators, and control modules that communicate with each other and allow you to control the paint room and consult (real-time) key paint circulation data from outside the hazardous area. Maintenance and human intervention are kept to a minimum, which means operators don’t have to enter the hazardous area as much as in a traditional paint mixing room.