Fainting is not a recognised allergic reaction. Neither is tiredness. You've already checked for, and found no symptoms of allergic responses to airborne allergic substances.
Some paints containing isocyanates can cause allergic sensitisation with subsequent development of asthma, but this would be mentioned on the data sheet or talking with the suppliers TechSupport.
From your description of circumstance, the only possible exposure will be to some volatile component of the paint. Wet paint is hardly dusty & application by roller will create far less aerosol than spray. I think that you have reasonable evidence on symptom history to exclude an allergy explanation & I'd have the courage of your conviction to say so.
You might just want to check (if not already done) that there isn't a ventilation intake on the room adjacent to the paint area.
Allergy testing is not a route to pursue without good early evidence of an allergic response. You need to know your putative allergen, there may not be a specific test, or testing could take ages to organise & false negatives & positives are possible.
Dr. Alan Swann, BM, AFOM
Director of Occupational Health
Occupational Health Service
Imperial College London
Southside building
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 2AZ
Tel: +44 (20) 7594 9385
Fax: +44 (20) 7594 9407
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/hq/occhealth/
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/spectrum/occhealth (Intranet)
-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Hannar [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 July 2004 18:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Paint Fumes
Dear List,
I have a rather strange case at the momement.
An employee has complained of a reaction to an exernal paint product that
is used for painting the safety lines outside of her workplace. She has no
respiratory symptoms, no rhinnitis, no watering eyes etc.
Her reaction is that she feels tired when the paint is in use and has
fainted on 3 occaisions when the paint was in use outside and she was in
the building, 3 well ventilated rooms away. There was minimal paint smell,
in fact colleagues did not even realise any painting was being done.
Her employer has removed her from any area within contactable range of
external painting work and has offered to redeploy her to another unit.
The company has ordered environmental sampling when the paint is in use,
by roller as there is no spray painting. They are a little cynical of her
reaction and a recent GP report failed to mention any stated reaction to
the fumes that she was supposed to have attended her GP for. They now wish
to test for any allergies and reaction.
Would allergy testing indicate such a reaction to any components of a
paint product?? The data sheets indicate low hazard and the manufacturers
have not heard of such a reaction before, given the distances from the
actual painting being performed.
Grateful for any response,
Many thanks, Helen
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