I used to be a car washer at a dealership body shop, and I loved the job (making cars look better all day!) but I really hated some of the conditions I was faced with. When the techs would do compounding, or using a sander or Bondo, there would be tons of dust. I also had to change the fiberglass filters, which I didn't like at all. My boss never even told me about where I could get gloves or a particle mask to use while changing the filters. I had to ask him first.
When I'd spray down the floors at the end of the day, I would spray a heavy mist into the air through the whole shop, in an attempt to bring down some of the dust that was floating around in the air that I breathed all day at work. I would hardly ever sweep the floor since it would stir up so much dust. I would just pick up the big stuff, and spray the floor with the hose and squeegee the nasty water into the drains. I tried to do everything I could to improve the environment that I worked in.
On one particular occasion, my boss told me use Super Iron Out on a white Intrigue (
) to get some stubborn red dust off of the paint. After less than a minute, I had a severe bloody nose. The vapors must have been very strong, because my nose just kept flooding for several minutes, until I just took a small bucket and some Kleenex outside with me. I'm sure those vapors weren't very healthy for me to be breathing.
As much as I liked my job, I wasn't too fond of the conditions I was subjecting myself to. I'm still young, and I didn't want to cause myself some serious health problems just to make $7.50/hr.
So I guess I'm saying that you should take all the precautions you can to keep your working environment healthy. Your health should be top priority. If you need more equipment to make your working environment safer, it is worth the money in order to preserve your health in the long run.
