How to Sand Safely

Sanding can present safety concerns; who knows what ghosts and goblins are hiding and waiting for release when you stir up the dust?  A complete hazard assessment should always be performed to identify hazards present and options for dealing with them. 

Professional sanding commonly means a respirator should be used. Before occupational use of any respirator, a written respiratory protection program must be implemented. The hazard assessment may often point to the fact that additional personal protective equipment (PPE), such as eye protection or coveralls, may also be needed.

Here are some thoughts to consider, whether you are doing a simple sand, up to working with lead paint.  Again, though, each situation may be different and protection should be dictated by the specific hazard assessment.

Any FFP2 respirator can typically be used for respiratory protection from general sanding. If you are sanding lead-based paint, however, you would need to use a FFP3 disposable respirator or half mask with P3 filter. Coveralls are useful, too. They not only help keep dust and debris off your clothes, but once you take them off, the particulates stay with the coverall rather than on your clothing. Without coveralls, your clothing can collect some of the dust and debris; when you move to other areas, you can inadvertently bring those particulates and contaminate those other areas.

Protecting the eyes is also usually a good idea, and may be required based on the hazard assessment. Two popular choices to help keep the particulates away from the eyes are goggles or a pair of safety eyewear with a foam gasket.

Lastly, if you are using a power sander, wearing a pair of earplugs or earmuffs with your other PPE could be a good idea. As always, however, one has to go back to the hazard assessment to see if hearing protection is needed (or could cause other hazards).  In addition, you have to ensure that PPE is compatible whenever multiple types of PPE are used – for instance, you would not want to wear eye protection that gets in the way of the hearing protection forming a good seal and doing its job.

Below are some 3M safety sanding products that you might want to check out for specific tasks: