This article presents the sociodemographic profile and the working conditions of wall painters exposed to solvents at a public university in Rio de Janeiro. The survey design was cross-sectional study. Fifty-five wall painters were assessed and their demographic and occupational background data were collected through interviews ("Bloco de Entrevista de Saúde do Trabalhador"). The most frequent age group was of 41-50 years old (38.18%). Most of the painters had been working at the university for over 10 years (70.91%). As for their working conditions, 58.2% of the painters informed that they had never worn individual protection equipment; 52.73% were unaware of the Work Accident Prevention Committee ("Comissão Interna de Prevenção de Acidentes de Trabalho"); 92.73% performed some kind of repetitive movement; 60% had another income source (most of them as free lancers); 87.3% ranked relationship at work as of good quality and 45.45% had already worked as wall painters before being hired at the university. Workplace inventory records have shown environmental and working conditions to be unsuitable.
wall painters; working conditions; occupational exposure
