All provinces and territories · Editable Word template

Industrial coatings and abrasive blasting safety manual template

A complete written health and safety program for industrial painting, protective coatings and abrasive blasting contractors working on steel structures, tanks, bridges, pipelines, plant equipment and in the shop, wherever in Canada the job is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: blast pots, hoses and deadman controls, blast hoods and breathing air, choosing abrasives and controlling silica, containment and dust collection, removing lead and chromium coatings, isocyanate and two-part coatings, solvents and flammable atmospheres, airless spraying and injection injuries, static and bonding, tank and vessel interiors, scaffolds, swing stages and lifts, working over water, noise, heat in blast suits, skin sensitization, medical surveillance and spent abrasive waste. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s abrasive blasting rules and silica abrasive limits, breathing air, lead and isocyanate rules, spray work, confined spaces and who regulates hazardous waste. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.

A look inside

Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.

Cover with room for your logo and company name

Linked table of contents, laid out on the 14 national COR elements plus a section on working across Canada

Section 3: twenty safe work practices written for blasting and coating crews, breathing air and silica abrasives shown

Section 15: each jurisdiction's abrasive blasting, silica abrasive, breathing air, lead and isocyanate rules

Appendix A: all 74 documentation questions of the national COR elements mapped

Print-ready forms: the breathing air quality and compressor check shown

What’s in the manual

1. Safety and health policy

A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, supervisors, blasters, painters and sprayers, pot tenders and helpers, and how we work under the owner’s rules.

2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control

Formal hazard assessments by type of substrate, coating and access, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the coating and blasting job hazard assessment.

3. Safe work practices

Twenty practices for blasting and coating: the blast zone, pots and hoses, hoods and breathing air, abrasives and silica, containment, lead and chromium, isocyanates, solvents, airless spray, bonding, tanks and vessels, scaffolds and swing stages, lifts, water, noise, heat, skin, medical surveillance, waste and the public.

4. Safe job procedures

Step-by-step procedures for setting up a blast pot, checking breathing air, blasting in a containment, removing lead paint, spraying an isocyanate coating, coating inside a tank, an airless injection injury and disposing of spent abrasive.

5. Company safety rules

Life-saving rules for blasting and coating (deadman controls never tied down, breathing air checked before a hood goes on, treat old coatings as lead until tested, never point a spray gun at anyone), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.

6. Personal protective equipment

Supplied-air blast hoods, respirators and fit testing, coveralls and gloves for coatings, hearing protection, and fall protection at height.

7. Preventative maintenance program

Blast pots, hoses, couplings and deadman controls, compressors and breathing air systems, airless pumps and guns, dust collectors, containments, and access equipment.

8. Training and communication

Blasters and sprayers, respirators and breathing air, lead and isocyanate awareness, confined space entry, access equipment, and orientation on every site.

9. Inspections

Blast equipment checked before use, breathing air and compressor checks, containment inspections, and site inspections.

10. Investigations and reporting

Hose whips, injection injuries, overexposures, fires, falls and near misses reported and investigated.

11. Emergency preparedness

An injection injury, a breathing air failure, a fire in a tank, a confined space casualty, a fall, and first aid on every crew.

12. Statistics, records and document control

Blast equipment and breathing air checks, entry permits, containment inspections, medical surveillance and hazardous waste records, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.

13. Legislation

OHS law and its blasting and coating rules, the CSA respirator and breathing air standards, SSPC and AMPP as industry standards, environmental law for waste, and the right to refuse.

14. Procurement and contractor management

Working for owners and general contractors, scaffold and containment subcontractors, waste carriers, and buying abrasives, coatings and equipment.

15. Working across Canada

Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, abrasive blasting and silica abrasives, breathing air, lead, isocyanates and spray work, medical surveillance, confined spaces, who regulates hazardous waste, and serious incidents to report and how fast.

Appendix A. COR cross-reference

Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.

Appendix B. Forms

37 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the coating and blasting job hazard assessment, blast equipment inspection, breathing air check, confined space entry permit, containment inspection and hazardous waste log.

Written for the work, not just the province

Blasting and coating crews are hurt by a hose that whips, bad air in a blast hood, silica and lead in the dust, isocyanates in the mist and a spray gun that injects paint under the skin. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.

Old coatings are treated as lead and chromium until a lab says otherwise, and no hood goes on until the breathing air has been checked.

One program for every province you work in

Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the job is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.

It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.

Who it is for

Industrial painting, protective coatings and abrasive blasting contractors, in the field and in the shop. Autobody refinishing, wood finishing and hazardous materials abatement have their own manuals.

A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your work and the provinces you work in before you issue it.

Lifetime updates

When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.

Version 1.0 October 30, 2026
- First edition, written for industrial painting, protective coatings and abrasive blasting contractors and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the abrasive blasting, silica abrasive, breathing air, lead, isocyanate, spray, confined space and hazardous waste rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 30 October 2026.