Paint and Solvent Storage Tips

Paints and solvents are essential in maintenance and construction, but they also bring dangers of both flammability and toxicity when stored improperly. Follow these tips to reduce both dangers.

First, choose a location in which to place a flammables storage cabinet. Ensure the location is:

• Well-ventilated. This can be natural ventilation, or you may add a low-flow exhaust to it. The decision of natural versus forced depends on many factors, chief of which is how much needs to be ventilated. The goal is to keep the concentration low.
• Away from people and ignition sources (e.g., not in the office or right outside a break room, and not in the shop near welding or grinding operations).
• Close enough to work areas that people don’t feel inconvenienced by taking items to and from it.
• Won’t put the locker in danger of being struck by a lift-truck.
• Reasonably well-lit.

Second, add some helpful touches:

• Provide the MDS for each included chemical. For example, you could put each MDS into a plastic pocket and have all of those in a 3-ring binder that is fastened to something near the cabinet.
• Place a couple of escape respirators in a bag, and fasten that to something near the cabinet. Ensure it is clearly marked.
• Add a fire extinguisher specifically for this location — even if there’s a column-mounted one nearby.
• Provide a few spill clean-up kits for use at the cabinet or at the work location.
• Provide a stack of re-order slips that people can fill out/drop off at the tool crib.
• Install a placard or sign identifying where the toxic waste disposal area is.
• Consider providing a small dispensing table along with a supply of work containers. For example, the solvent comes in a one gallon can but the typical user needs only half a cup. It is safer to carry half a cup in a work can than to carry the gallon can around.

Then, manage the contents:

• Avoid storing containers that are almost empty. What’s in them will still be emitting fumes but won’t be enough to do a job or will be in too poor of a condition to use for a job.
• Have a culling date. How soon does a particular paint or solvent expire? Determine this for each item as it is added to the locker. At that time, write the expiration month on the bottom of the container in permanent marker. Spray with clear acrylic to preserve the writing from accidentally being wiped off. An easier system is to assign by quarter, with each quarter a different color (e.g., green for spring, blue for summer, brown for fall, white for winter).
• Assign someone to check the locker weekly for containers that are improperly closed, nearly empty, or badly dented. This same person needs to check the supplies such as the work containers, spill kits, and escape respirators.
• Note if a particular paint or solvent expired with the container practically full. This is not one to re-order and store, unless a much smaller quantity can be obtained.
• If in doubt, throw it out.

You must also manage the locker. Acknowledge the following:

• Some things don’t need to go in there. For example, cans of water-based paints don’t need to. Store these somewhere else. Store these cans of paint upside down, after firmly securing their lids. This keeps air from entering the can, thus extending the usable life of the paint.
• Ensure the inside and outside of the locker are clean. That means all drips are removed, any spills have been completely cleaned up, and there aren’t even greasy fingerprints on it. This not only reduces minor combustibility and toxicity, it communicates that this locker is to be taken seriously and treated professionally. If you let it degrade into a paint-smattered mess, people will lower their standards accordingly.