620.10 Operational Procedures and Safety

620.8.1 Safety Measures For Handling Paints

Guidance. The following precautions are to be followed to alleviate the possibility of injury when removing inspection covers from the paint tanks on stripers, nurse trucks and bulk storage facilities for water borne paints:

A. Personnel should always be grounded when removing the inspection cover from the tank. To be electrically grounded, one hand must be touching the metal of the tank to prevent static electricity from arcing between the other hand and some portion of the tank.

B. When opening paint tanks on the striper, nurse truck and bulk tanks inside enclosed areas, adequate ventilation must be available to dissipate the ammonia fumes that are associated with water borne paints. When opening tanks for inspection and filling purposes, allow the fumes to dissipate before looking into the tank.

C. When using a rod to measure paint levels in the storage tanks of the striper, nurse truck or even the bulk storage facility, the rod should be made of a non-conductive, non-corrosive material.

D. When performing maintenance inside any paint storage tank that contains paint or wet paint residue, the top of the tank should be totally removed or forced; fresh air ventilation should be provided.

E. Before entering any paint tanks, the Risk Management policy on Confined Spaces will be reviewed.

620.8.2 Disposal Of Empty Paint Barrels

The disposal of empty paint barrels shall be taken care of by each individual district.

The district shall ensure, before they sell or give away the drums, that they contain 1 in. (25 mm) or less of traffic paint and the drums have our standard Paint Barrel Decal (R11-31-4) attached.

Standard. Each recipient of our empty paint drums shall be required to sign a receipt that will acknowledge the drums contain 1 in. (25 mm) or less of traffic paint and these drums have our standard Paint Barrel Decal (R11-31-4) attached. The original receipt shall be provided to the recipient of the drums and the district shall retain a copy permanently.

Option. The following procedures may be used by the districts when disposing of these barrels:

A. Advertise the drums in the local newspaper for three consecutive days, in lots varying from 20 to 200 per lot, depending upon the size of the local market. Allow a period of time for those interested to view the material. Allow anyone who is interested in purchasing these drums, including Missouri Department Of Transportation personnel, to submit a sealed bid on those lots in which they are interested. This advertisement is to include the type of material contained in the drums as well as the type of drum for sale (i.e. open top, bung, etc.).

B. Drums may be provided to any state, city or county governmental agency at no charge, independent from any sale.

C. Drums may be sold by auction following the guidelines for advertisement, lot size, inspection and contents as listed in item A.

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