Martin (17 years old) has burns in the face. He has lost his sight while spraying lime wash on garage walls

On the day of the accident, three workers (including two juveniles) were painting garage walls with lime wash using brushes. Martin joined them around midday. At that time their employer came to check the progress of work. Dissatisfied with the results, he decided that the work would be accomplished more quickly thanks to a compressor with a spraying gun. He poured lime wash into the container and screwed the gun’s nozzle onto the opening. Yet the cover had no seal and the nozzle was blocked with old paint. A stream of caustic lime gushed out straight into Martin’s face.

A labour inspector who arrived at the site of the accident concluded that a wrong method for painting walls with lime wash had been chosen. Workers had no equipment for the protection of their faces and eyes! Another mistake was to engage young workers in tasks not being in line with their apprenticeship programme.

Martin, who was preparing to become an electro-mechanic, has half of his face burnt. He has lost sight in his left eye. Haste, thoughtlessness, and negligence of OSH rules ended so tragically!