CARC PAINTING OF EQUIPMENT 15 MAY 91

File: 970107_aug96_decls5_0006.txt
Page: 0006
Total Pages: 7

Subject: CARC PAINTING OF EQUIPMENT   15 MAY 91                          

Unit: 22D SUPCOM  

Parent Organization: ARCENT      

Box  ID: BX005154

Folder Title: CARC  ISSUES                                                                                    

Document Number:         15

Folder Seq  #:         72




                                  UNCLASSIFIED







              hood& other had little paper masks ... one guy mixed paint
              for three days then started coughing up blood. Others were
              vomiting. n
               As a result, he said the paint site was temporarily closed
              "until we had semi-safe equipment."
               The unit which painted 7,000 vehicles before the invasion,
              used paint at a rate of 40 gallons per hour, he said.

               "People were having problems the whole time," Emard said.

               He said it was several days before anyone even read the
              Material Safety Data Sheet affixed to each fivo-gallon can
              of paint.

               The sheet recommends that if the paint is spilled, the area
              be ventilated evacuated of non-essential personnel, and the
              spill covered with neutralizing agent of ammoniap detergent
              and water.

              Emard said the neutralizing agents were not available at the
              site.

               When he tripped and spilled two five-gallon buckets of
              paint, Emard said he simply picked up the buckets and
              returned to the mixing tent to have them refilled, leaving
              the spilled paint in the sand. Empty buckets were "laying
              about on the ground and on @ back of a tractor-trailer."
               At the time, he said, members of the unit understood the
              "importance of the mission," which was to prepare vehicles
              for battle.
               "That's why we were willing to throw caution to the wind,"
              he said.
               That feeling of urgency doesn't exist when it comes to
              preparing equipment to go back to the States.
               (Line missing) who oversaw painting operation, were lax in
              maintaining air filters needed to keep fumes from getting
              into the fresh-air hoods.
one point, three painters became sick the same
              day as a result of using a hood with a clogged air filter on
              the compressor.




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                                    UNCLASSIFIED

Document 7 f:/Week-34/BX005154/CARC ISSUES/carc painting of equipment 15 may 91:010297184315128
Control Fields 17
File Room = aug96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-34
Box ID = BX005154
Unit = 22D SUPCOM
Parent Organization = ARCENT
Folder Title = CARC ISSUES
Folder Seq # = 72
Subject = CARC PAINTING OF EQUIPMENT 15 MAY 91
Document Seq # = 15
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 02-JAN-1997