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Exposure to isocyanates was the leading cause of occupational asthma in the UK. Motor vehicle repair (MVR) bodyshop paint sprayers were at greatest risk, despite widespread use of air-fed breathing apparatus and ventilated booths. Most paint sprayers work in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) project, described in this paper, is to improve exposure control measures in at least 20 per cent of MVR bodyshops, and reduce the risk of occupational asthma. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

A three-stranded plan consisted of: Safety and Health Awareness Days (SHADs); workplace inspections; and third-party stakeholder communications. The impact of various parts of the project were evaluated.

Approximately 18 per cent of bodyshops in the UK attended one of 32 SHADs, following which over 90 per cent of delegates expressed an “intention to act” to improve exposure control measures. A local assessment showed that at least 50 per cent of bodyshops improved exposure control measures. An evaluation of 109 inspections found that enforcement action was taken at 40 per cent of visits. Third-party engagement produced a joint HSE-industry designed poster, new agreed guidance on spray booths and dissemination of SHAD material. Knowledge of booth clearance time has become widespread, and 85 per cent of booths now have pressure gauges. Biological monitoring data show that, post-SHAD, exposures were lower.

A sustained national project using clear, relevant, tested messages delivered via different routes, had a sector-wide impact in bodyshops. It is probable that the project has improved isocyanate exposure control in at least 20 per cent of bodyshops. The generic lessons could be applied to other widespread SME businesses.

A travelling spray booth developed by the Aerograph‐DeVilbiss Co. Ltd. is designed to allow the painting of rolling stock and diesel and electric railway engines to be carried out with greater efficiency and lower cost. In operation, the booth straddles the vehicle to be painted and travels backwards and forwards under its own power at any speed up to 25 ft./min., filtering, washing and exhausting the air from the painting area that contains a certain amount of overspray. Electric power supply to the booth is through a feed rail running the full length of the shop, with a pick‐up arm mounted on top of the booth.

Kremlin Spray Painting Equipment Ltd. have now entered the spray booth market in the UK with the Kremlin Washair design booth, which, they claim, is “a victory over paint fog and sludge”.

The new Leyland National single decker bus which is now appearing in increasing numbers on our roads is built by new mechanised techniques in a special purpose factory at Workington. In this unique body design the accepted chassis end body structure common to the bus industry has been abandoned in favour of the integral body building system generally employed in the manufacture of most modern motor cars.

This article provides a summary of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) work over recent years to address occupational exposure to particulates during the manufacture and use of coating powders. It contends, in particular, that many users of coating powders are not controlling exposure to total inhalable particulate (TIP) (i.e. the total inhalable dust in the air from all sources), and that these control issues would exist even if TGIC (triglycidyl isocyanurate) was not being used. TGIC is a curing agent for polyester coating powders which is classified as a Category 2 mutagen. HSE is raising awareness that control of exposure is generally poor whatever powders are being used.

Geigy Co. Ltd. Stand 75. Diversified application of benzotriazole as a corrosion inhibitor specifically for copper and its alloys is the main theme of Geigy's stand.

Regular and repeatable surveys of submarine pipelines are necessary to give the designers of CP systems greater knowledge with which to design more efficient systems and so that maintenance can be more effectively planned. Mark Scorer, Subsea Survey Manager of Corrintec/UK, here describes the survey options available and goes on to explain the high level service and ease of operation of the Corrintec CPSS4 survey system, an enhanced version of the SS3 used extensively last year.

Volspray are moving from Belvedere, Kent, to 3–5 Thames Road, Barking, Essex, effective from June 30. The future marketing operation will be centred upon the Volspray‐Aro range of airless spraying equipment, and activities in the spray booth and conventional spraying field will be curtailed.

Harrier, Airbus, Hawk and BAe 146 assemblies and components are now painted in a new spray painting plant installed by A. E. Industrial and Air Equipment Ltd. of Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

The growth of plastics as corrosion‐resistant coatings is a relatively recent one. Until the second World War their application in this field had hardly been initiated, but once the demand was created the manufacturers responded wholeheartedly and a large number of coatings, with different characteristics and applications, were developed. This article is concerned with some of these developments.