A spray painting booth is a specific area designed to control the application of spray paint. It helps to increase the efficiency of the system as well as keep the employees safe from chemical products used. It exchanges contaminated air with filtered air that is supplied to the workers. Therefore, it’s important to build it, especially for workers’ safety and fast work cleaning. Some primary guidelines might be helpful to build a painting booth. Steel, concrete, or masonry provide rigidity to the structure, to provide rigidity it should be constructed from these materials. Its interior surface must be smooth and continuous which facilitates the cleaning and washing action without injury. There should be a proper installation of alarms that give a signal to the personnel in the area and suppress the fire. Sprinklers and visible gauges should also be installed. It should be designed to provide at least 3 ft of space on all sides and above the booth. Some basic fire and electrical requirements should be kept in consideration while constructing. These are portable and completely closed lamps that are excluded from the spraying area, all metal elements including exhaust duct and piping should be electrically ground permanently, at every 20 ft there should be proper signs that show the prohibition of smoking, flame, and sparks that minimize the hazardous effects. Some ventilation requirements include fans of nonferrous and nonsparking material to avoid combustion, for the dissipation of vapors there should be proper ventilation during and after the spraying process, exhaust air should not be recirculated and exhaust duct should be 18 inches away from unprotected combustible materials, check out the ventilation system in case of symptoms like nausea, irritation, tachycardia, blurry vision, and chest pain.
Safety practices for maintenance:
Apart from basic fire, electrical, and ventilation requirements, there are some safety tips to make sure that the booth is maintained properly. That area should be restricted for all people with asthma, respiratory illness, and allergies for their safety and to avoid the risk of asthma attack, painting spray booth should be properly cleaned as well as change the filters regularly, maintain equipment like hoses, nozzles, and ducts, and check the essential elements every 3 to 4 months including seal and ductwork. In short consistency and maintenance is the key element of safety protocol, repetition of safety tips will increase efficiency and decrease losses. Some design considerations must be taken into account before the construction to protect workers from any kind of physical damage and facilities, to give proper paint finish for the clients on vehicles as well as to reduce or minimize the operational costs.
