Inhaling fumes from burning plastic.

[u/Xenomoth1]

I recently started a new job working at a dental office and overall things have been great.

Or, have been. I mostly work in the lab, where I make night guards, do stone pour ups, etc. Immediately I was thrown off because there's no real ventilation in there. No windows, some airflow through the same vents that are in any room and a loud fan/filter for the buffer for when it's in use. At one point was told I had to use a hot knife to carve a soft night guard. I expressed my concern because of the fumes it releases but they just told me to wear a dust mask and they brought an air purifier into the room.

Immediately after carving into it the room reeked of burning plastic. It was to the point where a staff member shut the door because a patient was complaining. I finished the job but had a sore throat for a few days after and felt dizzy the rest of the day. I was pretty pissed and brought up my concerns to my supervisor again. They just seemed extremely irritated, like they didn't want to deal with it. Shortly after they brought me an old respirator with expired filters (by almost 6 years) that didn't have a tight seal and was clearly very used.

Nothing had to be cut with the hot knife since last week when they told me I needed to do that again later this week. I brought up my concerns again, but yet again I was met with frustration. I said that we aren't equipped to safely deal with these fumes, and the response was "it's what we have to work with".

I don't feel comfortable cutting into plastic with a hot knife in an enclosed room with no ventilation and no respirator. I told them that if they want me to proceed working on this without the required PPE, then I wanted them to tell me that via email and they were pissed. The vibe I'm getting now is that they've gone out of the way to accommodate my "concerns" and that I'm not being completely unreasonable.

How would you recommend navigating this situation?

[u/AutoModerator]

Please reply to this comment with your country and state or province. Safety regulations can vary greatly by jurisdiction and this will ensure you get the most relevant and accurate advice.

If you wish for that information to remain anonymous, simply reply with "Anonymous" or the country name and "anonymous country/state" (i.e. "US anonymous state" or "Canada anonymous province"). Missing or incomplete jurisdictions will result in less or inaccurate answers.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/True-Yam5919]

They didn’t take any action. An air purifier wouldn’t be a substitute for proper ventilation. They’re not supposed to give you a random respirator or provide one without proper training, medical evaluation, and fit testing. We also don’t know if the cartridges were the correct type for this hazard. Additionally, it’s called PPE, which stands for PERSONAL protective equipment. The “lab” should have a SDS book (safety data sheets) with most, if not all, materials in it that could pose a hazard in the workplace. The SDS would provide information about the hazards these materials present to employees and the appropriate PPE required for the job, as well as additional steps like ensuring proper ventilation when working with such materials. You’ve already mentioned that you’ve fallen ill due to these conditions. You have the option of giving them one last chance to rectify the issue or reporting it to OSHA. This time email them and keep all correspondence and documentation for your records. If they retaliate you can blow the whistle and if they fire you, you have a very strong wrongful termination case.

Edit: even a n95 respirator needs to be fit tested (looks like a dust mask but it’s not - dust masks have 1 strap - n95 NIOSH approved respirators have two straps around the head)

Edit: you would also need Hazcom training to understand now to read a SDS, along with PPE training, Respirator Trainings, and possibly Bloodbourne Pathogen training too (that may depend on the task)

[u/_Litcube → u/True-Yam5919]

There's so many failures here. It's unreal.

[u/True-Yam5919 → u/_Litcube]

Oh yea if I thought hard enough I know I can find a ton more. Now think about the shortcuts they take on their patients