Safety, Regulations, and Project Documentation
Safety and documentation are part of coating quality, not paperwork after the fact. Bridge coating work can involve abrasive blasting silica, lead-based paint, solvents, confined spaces, fall hazards, and heavy equipment. Identify hazards in a job hazard analysis, use engineering controls first (containment, ventilation, dust collection), then administrative controls, then PPE. OSHA respiratory protection, hazard communication, silica, lead, and confined-space requirements apply; air monitoring and medical surveillance may be required. Do not use a respirator as the only control for blasting dust. Containment must prevent release and manage waste; spent abrasive and paint debris may be hazardous waste. VOC limits and permits can restrict products and thinning. Documentation should let a third party reconstruct the job: daily reports with weather and surface conditions, batch and lot numbers, thinner additions, DFT and test results, nonconformance reports, submittals, RFIs, and closeout records. A frequent trap is a daily report that says only 'coated today' without temperatures, products, or quantities. Worked example/rule of thumb: if it is not recorded with time, location, product, and reading, it did not happen for acceptance purposes. Close every nonconformance with a cause, correction, and verification before final payment.