That is interesting about working for the environmental contractor. Actually that's one reason I even brought up this thread, is because I hoped people with more knowledge/information/experience would pop in with their two cents. I do a lot of painting, not just furniture, and it would be great to fully understand the impact of the chemicals involved, but unfortunately, another degree is out of the question at the moment, sigh...
And it is awfully nice of Indy to volunteer his organic chemistry knowledge, too. There is a lot of information out there, but it is difficult to know what information to trust, and it can be very confusing.
Being a chemist is probably very interesting. I took an Integrated Physics and Chemistry class in High School, in fact. Really interesting stuff. Incidentally, after learning about chemical nomenclature, I asked my teacher if he would drink dihydrogen monoxide (H2O). He said no at first, and then got a puzzled look on his face, laughed, and said of course.
Anyway, I would say that an organization called OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Adminstration), is probably the most reliable source. All our workers have to spend a few weeks each year undergoing training to OSHA standards, and we have to post Material Hazard Data Sheets like the PDF I linked you to earlier for all our chemicals in order to pass inspection. They tend to overestimate the effect of the chemicals, if anything. So if they tell you how to be safe around it, you're probably well in the clear.
Most of our workers work with chemicals all day, and have suffered no ill effects, due mostly to following that three-point list of procedures I showed you.
That procedure list works for the majority of chemicals that aren't acidic enough to eat through plastic, or radioactive. And those sorts of chemicals are so highly regulated you probably wouldn't be able to get your hands on them easily anyway.
These guys are not the smartest people in the world... a lot of them didn't even graduate High School. Some of them are recent immigrants that struggle with English, and we're still able to teach them a reasonable degree of chemical safety. That's why I think spending a little time going over a few safety procedures (ventilation of work area), and obtaining safety equipment (goggles, respirator mask, and gloves), is all you really need. After all, you're just using chemicals. Not trying to develop new ones.
