Adhesive safety is essential for many reasons. No matter which industry you’re in, adhesives can have many dangerous properties.
Those who work with adhesives need to ensure they follow safety protocol to protect themselves from the risks of adhesives, whether it’s burns from the heat of hot melt or respiratory irritation from solvent-based adhesives.
You should always refer to the Material Safety Data Sheet for your adhesive to understand the safety risks it poses. That’s not enough, however. Employers have a responsibility to develop and enforce safety standards and training, while employees have a duty to take these directives seriously.
We’ve compiled the following safety tips for working with adhesives that can help guide you as you develop your own safety protocol.
Adhesive Safety Tips for Working with Glues
- Safety training: Employers must offer their employees training about the dangers they face on the job and what they can do to protect themselves. Safety training should be frequent, thorough and taken seriously.
- Understanding risk: Employers will get better safety compliance from their employees if employees understand the risks of the adhesive they are using. Make sure that risk is communicated during safety training.
- Safety equipment: Employees must have adequate safety equipment that addresses the specific risks of the adhesive employees will be working with. That equipment is varied.
- Proper ventilation: Ventilation is required for all adhesives and especially those adhesives which release harmful fumes when first applied (many release more fumes if overheated). Ventilation and other air quality measures must be carefully monitored.
- Handling adhesives: There are many proper handling strategies that can reduce the safety risks posed by adhesives. Using a minimum of adhesive, at a minimum temperature, can reduce exposure risks. It’s also essential to keep adhesive containers sealed when not in use.
- Understanding signs of toxicity: Employees should be knowledgeable about the signs of toxicity of the specific adhesives they are working with. Cultivate a workplace culture where employees look out for one another and help anyone whose health may be at risk.
- Open communication: Employees need to feel free to bring their safety concerns to their supervisors. Management should make themselves accessible and encourage employees to report any potentially unsafe conditions.
Working with Adhesives
If you have safety concerns about your adhesives and aren’t sure how to address them, reach out to us at Bond Tech. We have expert safety knowledge about all the adhesives we carry and can offer you further safety tips for working with these adhesives.
