Paint suits: what to wear for spray painting, automotive refinishing and overspray

What does OSHA require for spray painting clothing?

Two standards apply, and only one of them mentions clothing. The spray finishing standard, 1910.107, is a fire standard: it covers spray booths, electrical and other sources of ignition, ventilation, flammable liquids, operations and maintenance, electrostatic equipment and drying apparatus. It requires mechanical ventilation adequate to remove flammable vapors from all spraying areas, an average air velocity of not less than 100 linear feet per minute over the open face of a booth for non-electrostatic spraying, grounded booths and ducts, and bonding when flammable liquids are transferred. Its only clothing sentence is that spray finishing employees’ clothing shall not be left on the premises overnight unless kept in metal lockers. It does not say what the painter wears.

The clothing comes from the general PPE rule. Protective clothing must be provided, used and maintained wherever chemical hazards are encountered in a manner capable of causing injury through absorption, inhalation or physical contact. The employer assesses the workplace to find out whether such hazards are present, selects PPE that protects against the hazards identified, selects PPE that properly fits, tells each employee what was selected, and signs a written certification of the assessment. For a paint shop the hazards on that form are the coating and its hardener as listed on the safety data sheet, the solvent, and the overspray itself.

What does the isocyanate test on the MicroGuard sheet mean?

Two-part polyurethane paints cure with an isocyanate hardener, and skin contact with the hardener is one of the hazards a paint shop assessment lists. International Enviroguard tested MicroGuard MP against an isocyanate-based paint hardener by ASTM F903 and reports a pass. F903 is a penetration test: the liquid sits in continuous contact with the outside of the fabric at a set pressure, and the fabric passes if no liquid is seen on the inside during the exposure. It is a liquid-tight check, not a permeation measurement; ASTM’s own summary notes that materials passing the penetration test can still be permeated at the molecular level. No other fabric on this page publishes a paint-hardener test, which is why MicroGuard MP is the one we point to when the assessment names isocyanates.

Which paint suit breathes?

The published figures are of two kinds. Moisture vapor transmission rate is how much water vapor passes through a square meter in a day; International Enviroguard’s catalog prints 3,200 g/m² per 24 hours for MicroGuard MP. Air permeability is how much air passes through the fabric; MicroGuard MP is under 0.55 cfm, which is the signature of a film fabric, while Body Filter 95+ is 8.65 cfm, which is why its manufacturer sells it as a breathable paint suit. SMS has no film at all and its manufacturer leads with heat stress on the sell sheet, though it publishes no number. ValuGuard MP’s sheet says high MVTR without a figure. The practical reading: for a booth where the painter is in the suit for hours, Body Filter 95+ or SMS; for a wetter job with hardener in the mix, MicroGuard MP and shorter stints.

Do paint suits keep lint off the panel?

That is the other half of the job, and the manufacturers address it. MicroGuard MP is described as low-linting to reduce the shed of unwanted contaminants. SMS, polypropylene and PyroGuard CRFR carry Helmke drum Category 1 results, a cleanroom garment test that counts particles shed from the garment while it tumbles. A hood matters here too: hair is the usual source of the fiber in the clearcoat, and the 8002 MicroGuard MP hood covers the head to the shoulders with an elastic face opening. None of this is a paint-quality claim; it is the garment data a shop can use when it is chasing dirt in the finish.

What about static and fire in the booth?

1910.107 treats the booth as a flammable atmosphere, which is why it grounds the booth and the ducts and bonds the containers. The garment data is limited here. MicroGuard MP publishes a surface resistance of 1.2 × 10⁹ ohms by BS EN 1149-1, and ChemSplash 1 states it meets EN 1149-5, the European electrostatic clothing standard; the other fabrics on this page publish no electrostatic result. None of them is flame resistant: the manufacturer’s catalog lists MicroGuard MP as melt-down in a flammability test, and DuPont says Tyvek 400 will ignite and continue to burn and melt. Where the assessment finds a flash fire hazard, the PyroGuard FR and CRFR garments, worn over primary FR clothing, are the manufacturer’s answer, and we cover them in the arc flash and flash fire guide.

What goes with the suit?

• Hood: an attached hood on the coverall (8015, 8019, 8115, 8119, 2225, 2229, 4028, 4014) or a separate 8002 MicroGuard MP hood over a collared suit.
• Shoe covers: 8103 MicroGuard MP with non-skid sole, V3100 polypropylene anti-skid, or 2001 SMS; a painted floor is a slick floor, so pick a non-skid sole.
• Respirator: the hazard assessment and the respirator program under 1910.134 decide it; our respirator fit testing guide covers the fit test that goes with a tight-fitting facepiece.
• Gloves: the glove chemical table for the solvent and hardener, which is separate from the suit data.
• One size up: a suit that binds at the shoulder splits at the seam; the Enviroguard coveralls are cut with elastic backs and seamless shoulder areas for that reason.