There are over 180,000 auto body and glass repair technicians in the U.S., and most find their profession to be highly rewarding. But due to the nature of their work, collision repair professionals are oftentimes exposed to potentially unhealthy and dangerous workplace conditions. As customers, we only see the transformative outcomes produced by body shop technicians and not the behind-the-scenes, daily physical hazards they face. In an effort to safeguard their workers, reputable body shops create safer work environments using numerous health and safety measures. Most are mandated by the Federal Government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), while others are just plain common sense.
Although driving a car can be dangerous, it is not as dangerous as it once was compared to the peak of over 54,000 motor vehicle fatalities in the early 70s. Much of this decline is a result of improved automobile designs and federal regulation requiring special design components and safety features such as seat-belts, airbags, and sensing devices.
Cars have become less dangerous for vehicle owners over the years, but what about the safety risks faced by the auto body workers who repair these vehicles?
While workers in many industries face safety hazards, the auto body repair industry has more risks than average. Fortunately, there are agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the US Department of Labor, who are tasked with ensuring the safety of U.S. auto body workers.
Physical hazards threatening auto body worker safety include repetitive stress, overexertion, and other ergonomic injuries, high-volume noise, oil and grease on walking surfaces, and cuts and lacerations from working with machinery. Workers in auto body shops are potentially exposed to a variety of chemical hazards that include volatile organics from paints, fillers, and solvents.
Auto body shop workers have the right to a safe workplace. The law requires employers to provide their employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers. The OSHA law also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for exercising their rights under the law if the auto body worker wants to file a complaint, raise a health and safety concern, or report an injury. Agencies like OSHA are responsible for protecting the safety of auto body workers and have implemented numerous standards over the years to protect those workers.
Your car is much safer today than it was a few decades ago, and you can be assured that auto body workers are safer as well.
Here are a few of the more important safety precautions auto body shops use to protect their technicians.
Body shop professionals routinely work with fillers, solvents, paints, primers, and polishes while prepping and painting a car’s exterior. Repair jobs also require a lot of sanding and metal grinding. All these processes produce dust, vapors, and fumes that contain harmful chemicals, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), that can damage a technician’s lungs, skin and eyes. As a result, the painting and finishing are done in special spray booths that meet strict ventilation standards. Technicians also wear protective clothing to shield their eyes and skin and use oxygen-supplied respirators so they won’t breathe the airborne chemicals produced during surface preparation and painting. If a paint spill occurs, technicians are directed to promptly wipe it up to avoid accidents.
If you’ve ever been around a body shop, you know how loud the mechanical sounds can be. Now picture a technician who works in that noise level every day. Grinders, sanders, lifts, sprayers, compressors and other tools of the trade are constantly in use, generating loud noises that put auto body professionals at risk for hearing loss. To protect their ears technicians are required to don earplugs or earmuffs while out in the shop area.
According to OSHA, roughly 30 percent of all workplace accidents in the U.S. are related to slips and falls. Within a body shop setting, spilled grease, paint and other liquids on the floor create potential hazards, along with tools that were not properly put away after use. Technicians know that a tidy work area is a safer one, and are instructed to clean up spills immediately, stow away their tools when not in use, and to also wear shoes with non-slip soles for added traction.
Auto body and glass technicians routinely work with compressors, sprayers, winches, pulling chains, lifts and other types of heavy equipment. Most contain movable parts like gears, sprockets, and belts which can result in bodily harm if the proper safety precautions are not followed. When accidents strike it’s easy for a collision repair professional to sustain cuts, crushed hands and feet, broken digits, burns and other injuries from the mechanical tools they’re using. As a precaution, prudent shops require their technicians to wear protective clothing, shoes, gloves, and headgear to safeguard their bodies from mechanical injuries.
Reputable auto body and glass repair shop owners and managers understand the potential workplace risks posed to their technicians and have implemented health and safety precautions to protect them. They’ve put in place safeguards, whether OSHA-mandated or not, to ensure that their workers enjoy safer, healthier and happier careers while getting your vehicle restored like new again. Lower on-the-job injury rates also lead to higher shop productivity. And from a customer’s perspective, a cleaner and tidier shop just simply looks more professional and efficient. To search your zip code for a reliable collision repair shop in your area that also values a safe and healthy working environment, visit: www.carwise.com now.
Sources
NSC.org
OSHA.org
