Painters throw caution to wind

Earnestly swishing their paint brushes back and forth, on either commercial or residential buildings, the daily-wage laborers of Rawalpindi, clad in paint stained clothes, pay no heed to safety precautions.

These painters who often go by days without getting any work jump at any paint job that comes their way even if it is below minimum wage and when accepting work, they put little stock in the difficulty of the task or the kind of health risks they are exposed to. Their work involves the use of thinners, spirits, carbides, and other toxic chemicals which they come in direct contact with when mixing paint by hand.

“The chemicals in paint are even more dangerous than the hazardous health waste we discard,” remarked Dr Ahsan Kazmi, while talking to the Express Tribune. Kazmi, who is an Additional Medical Superintendent at a government hospital, said that these chemicals are detrimental to the health of laborers as they can cause skin, throat, lung, and eye diseases. He suggested that painters should wear protective equipment to avoid serious complications to their health.

Fazal Gul, who is currently employed to paint a newly constructed plaza, guffawed at the suggestion. “My ancestors were doing this job before me and they did not wear a painting kit either,” he said. Gul informed that he was now used to the risks that came with his job. “The scent of chemicals from paints has settled in my heart and mind,” he added.

However, some do not share Gul’s enthusiasm. Hassan Dad was getting ready to apply the first coat of primer at a house when paint got into his eyes. “My eyesight was severely affected and I could not come back to work for 6 months,” he said, recounting the horrible ordeal.

Dad was of the view that painting at a height was the worst part about his job as it increased the chances of paint getting into the eyes.

For Ajmal Khan, however, the height itself is the worst part of the job. “Painting high-rise commercial buildings is bad because I have witnessed many painters fall down from rickety ladders and break a few limbs,” he informed.

Gul, Dad, Khan, and other painters in the city are aware of the benefits of protective equipment but still choose to ignore buying one largely due to the cost. “The pain kit is expensive and has to be bought twice a year, which is just simply unaffordable for me,” Khan said.

Dr Muhammad Inayat, Deputy Medical Superintendent at the Benazir Bhutto General Hospital, expressed his bewilderment at the outright rejection of using protective equipment. “Painting without safety precautions is not just about breaking limbs or ruining your eyes; it is tantamount to inviting lung cancer itself,” an aghast Inayat said. He was of the view that strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) should also be formulated at the government level in this regard.

However, when Inspector Muhammad Dawood of the Labor Department, was inquired about the issue, he expressed that there was little the department could do. “We have never taken any action against the painters and no instructions have been issued by the department’s higher ups or the government in this regard,” Dawood told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2021.