Dangerous Arts
Part III: Occupational Safety and Health
by
Cindy Ellen Hill, Esq. for Fine Art Registry™
"For a solo artist, the studio may well be a home occupation site exempt from most regulatory oversight.”
Artists often perceive of their studios as a personal space, perhaps even as a three-dimensional equivalent of a private journal where their most creative thoughts take form on canvas or in clay rather than in ink on a page. But from a business regulation perspective, an art studio is a workplace.
For a solo artist, the studio may well be a home occupation site exempt from most regulatory oversight. But many studios are also places of employment for other artists, administrative, secretarial, and sales staff. As a workplace conducting the business of manufacturing art items, an art studio must comply with the workplace standards set by the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as with state programs and related state and local laws.
Over and over, professional audits and inspections of art studios, art schools, and institutional art departments reveal a frightening lack of knowledge about or attention to occupational safety and health, meaning that many art studios are nests of potential hazard for workplace-related illness, injury, or tragedies like fire. Welding near explosive tanks of compressed gas, cutting metal or operating hot devices near stored solvents, and walking around on floors slick with spilled paints and putties while carrying pointed objects is par for the course. This isn’t terribly surprising – studios are usually a whirlwind of creative energy, and pausing to focus on business regulation requirements regarding clean workplaces and fire safety plans feels antithetical to the creative process. Let’s face it, rules are stifling. But given the damper that a studio disaster could put on the realization an artists’ creative vision, a modicum of caution is definitely a wise platform from which to proceed.
Provisions for Businesses of All Sizes
Most OSHA regulations are not mandatory for businesses engaging less than ten workers. Some art-related businesses, like photography portrait studios, motion picture studios, and art museums and galleries, are also categorically exempt from many OSHA regulations, but studio spaces engaged in the production of art are not exempt. OSHA encourages voluntary compliance by exempt businesses, and maintains very helpful resources to help minimize workplace hazards in all places of employment. The Small Business Assistance program on the OSHA website is the best place to start, and includes a small business handbook that can be downloaded and printed out for easy reference. OSHA strongly encourages all businesses to develop a comprehensive safety and health program, and provides online voluntary guidelines as well as staff available for consultation. And all workplaces with employees are subject to many OSHA standards regarding specific conditions, including use and storage of ladders (29 CFR 1910.25), electrical safety (29 CFR 1910.33) and hearing protection (29 CFR 1910.95).
Many states have more stringent regulations that apply to smaller businesses and to a wider range of businesses than the federal standards. The extremely valuable OSHA website (www.osha.gov) has a comprehensive set of links to state occupational safety and health programs. The state occupational safety and health listings will likely not include your local zoning, building, and fire code standards though, so you will need to find these by contacting your own local municipal government. You may also be subject to community right-to-know programs which require public registration of the storage of materials which might be hazardous if spilt or involved in a fire. These programs may be run by a land use regulation office, fire department,or an independent local agency, so you will have to ask around to ensure that you are in compliance.
On the OSHA website, click on the button for “Quick Start” and then go to the “General Industry” category to follow through the outline of OSHA provisions for most businesses, most of which apply to art studios. The general provisions that apply to all businesses include:
- Hazard Communication: advising your employees of what hazards there are in the workplace, including providing Material Safety Data Sheets for hazardous materials used on the premises);
- Emergency Action Plan: OSHA regulations allow studios to write their own plans for response to a workplace emergency – however, there must be some form of plan in effect;
- Fire Safety: this includes smoke detectors and fire extinguishers appropriate to the materials on site, as well as minimizing fire hazards;
- Exit Routes: posting an exit route map, hanging appropriate exit signs, and training employees regarding nearest exit locations;
- Walking and Working Surfaces: providing appropriate non-slip surfaces on floors and worktables, such as rubberized flooring mats, and having proper supplies on hand to promptly deal with spills, such as kitty litter or commercial absorbent materials;
- Medical and First Aid Supplies: have on hand, and be familiar with using, first aid kits appropriate to the number of people and types of day-to-day hazards reasonably faced in the workplace, from papercuts and coffee-machine burns to larger injuries. Also have a working communications system in place for prompt contact to emergency services such as fire and ambulance.
Other OSHA standards only apply to the specific businesses to which they are relevant. Those which might pertain to studios include machine operations safeguards, electrical hazards plans, personal protective equipment such as noise and eye protection, and respirators. If the studio utilizes compressed gas or large quantities of oils, paints, solvents, and thinners, there are also storage, containment, and posting requirements for these. Chemical hazards in academic labs, art studios, and performing arts venues are governed by OSHA Lab Standard found at 29 CFR 1910.1450. A great resource for all questions of art studio safety is the United Educators Safety Guide for Art Studios by Thomas Oimet, http://www.conncoll.edu/offices/envhealth/Documents/Artsafety.pdf.
The Importance of Communication
Once a studio-workplace owner understands the standards that apply and has adopted either mandatory or voluntary guidelines, it is important to communicate them to all employees.
All art studios with employees must post the OSHA informational posters somewhere in the workplace where their employees can see them. You can buy laminated copies of these from most office supply stores, or download the text and dimensional requirements from the OSHA website. It is also wise to have formal or informal employee trainings to make sure everyone is on the same page and understands where important resources like the first aid kit and exit maps are located. Fire drills may feel like a silly flashback to elementary school, but when a disaster strikes people respond in accordance to training and instinct, so regular practice instills an automatic response that will kick in when fear
and confusion overwhelm ordinary rational thought.
"An artist’s studio is a business and a workplace, and the
conditions in that environment affect everyone working in the studio.”
An artist’s studio is a business and a workplace, and the conditions in that workplace environment affect everyone working in the studio. An injury, illness, or tragic occurrence in the studio will affect not only the artist but her employees, their families, and the greater community. If the time and mental focus required to ensure that occupational safety and health concerns are given proper attention would be seriously detrimental to the artist’s ability to continue in her creative works, then be sure to assign the task of compliance to an administrative assistant or more business-minded associate, spouse, or friend – but whatever it takes, make sure it gets done. The studio owner would ultimately be liable for any harm that results from a workplace that is in violation of occupational safety and health laws, and compliance with these regulations minimizes fiscal liability and, much more importantly, helps to minimize the odds of a serious mishap occurring.
— Cindy Ellen Hill, Esq. | December 26, 2006
Read the series:
Dangerous Arts Part I: Hazards in the Studio Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Dangerous Arts Part II: Read the Label
Dangerous Arts Part III: Occupational Safety and Health
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