SPECIFIC HAZARDS

TM 43-0139 1-9. DISPOSAL a. General. Unusable paint mixtures, paint components, primers, thinners and other materials may be considered hazardous waste and require disposal in accordance with Federal, state, DOD, and DA hazardous waste regulations. This may apply to dried paint/primer waste as well. Consult local environmental personnel for proper disposal guidance. b. Method of Disposal. The method used to dispose of this waste stream depends on the types of paint used. When the paints contain no hazardous heavy metals, the liquid portion of the waste stream may be able to be discharged into the sanitary sewer and the sludge disposed of in a sanitary landfill. The environmental coordinator should be contacted to ensure state and local ordinances are not violated. If heavy metal-based paints have been used, samples of the liquid and sludge should be analyzed for the characteristic of extraction procedure (EP) toxicity (heavy metals) and disposed of accordingly. (1) If sanitary sewer serving a paint processing operation discharges to a government-operated sewage treatment plant (STP), notify the STP operator of the approximate additional loadings of total organic carbon, biochemical oxygen demand, and total processing operation prior to discharge. (2) If a sanitary sewer serving a paint processing operation discharges to privately owned treatment works, pretreatment of wastewaters may be required by local regulatory authority. The installation environmental coordinator should determine such cases with public environmental regulators having primacy over government installations. Pretreatment regulations have been summarized by the USAEHA Water Quality Information Paper No. 13. 1-10. SPECIFIC HAZARDS Listed below are the various specific hazards associated with spray painting, cleaning, fires, safety equipment, hazardous materials, temperatures and equipment. a. All Painting. WARNING The local safety office and preventive medicine support activity must be consulted before beginning/changing any painting operation, regardless of the material used. WARNING Dry/cure freshly painted materials only in well-ventilated or unoccupied areas for a minimum of 30 minutes to allow solvents to flash off. b. Spray Painting. WARNING All personnel who work in or near a spray painting booth must wear a NIOSH approved respirator as well as personal protective equipment (PPE), when spray painting operations are underway. WARNING Only one person will spray paint at a time unless all people are protected in accordance with para 1-7. This is to eliminate the hazard of accidently spraying paint on another person. 1-5