VENTILATION

As a significant amount of exposure can be from airborne materials in the form of fume, vapours and dusts, it is important that a good level of ventilation is maintained. 

A constant supply of fresh, un-contaminated air should always be available to personnel. This is a most effective means of reducing airborne exposure. Good ventilation is a primary method of controlling employee exposure to the airborne vapours of epoxy resins and curing agents. 

The level of ventilation depends upon the task being undertaken and may vary from general background, as in a well aired workshop, to specialised facilities to provide general and / or local exhaust ventilation through forced extraction systems. The design of such systems can be complicated and specialist knowledge is often required. When designing workplace ventilation, care should be taken that the system design does not place workers between the source of contamination and the exhaust duct, causing exposure of the workers to the fumes from the products. 

Wet lay up of epoxies can give greater risk of exposure and therefore more ventilation is required than processes such as infusion or Prepreg which have a lower exposure profile.