The PAI code, VOC rules and sustainable paint

As a building painter you work daily with products that may contain substances that are dangerous to inhale or get on your skin. The Danish MAL code system (code numbering scheme) is the most important key to understanding what precautions a particular product requires — and it is regulated in the Working Environment Authority's order on working with code-numbered products.

§How to read a MAL code

An MAL code consists of two numbers separated by a hyphen followed by a year — for example 2-1 (1993). The first number from 00 to 5 indicates the danger of inhaling vapors from the product where 00 is lowest and 5 is highest. The second number from 1 to 6 indicates the danger from skin and eye contact ingestion and spray mist where 1 is lowest and 6 is highest notably because the high numbers cover allergy and cancer risk.

It is the manufacturer or importer who is responsible for setting the correct code for a product, but it is you as the user who must act on it — by choosing the right protective equipment and ventilation conditions before the work begins. For spraying work and for low-boiling, volatile products, air-supplied respiratory protection is often required, regardless of what the code otherwise indicates in isolation.

§VOC — limits for volatile substances in paint

Beyond the MAL code, the content of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in paint and lacquer is regulated through an EU directive on decorative paints, implemented in Danish legislation. The rules divide products into a number of categories by type and use — for example indoor wall paint, outdoor facade paint and lacquers — and set different limit values for each category with stricter requirements being introduced over time. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees compliance with the rules and breach can ultimately have criminal consequences for the company selling the product.

§The Swan Label and other environmental labels

Many paint products on the Danish market are marked with the Swan Mark (Nordic Ecolabel) which is administered in Denmark by Miljømærkning Danmark. The Swan Mark sets stricter requirements beyond the mandatory minimum requirements — including prohibition of certain problematic substances such as phthalates strict limits on carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting substances and requirements for emissions and packaging. The EU's own environmental label EU Ecolabel (Flower) covers the same product group with a comparable but not identical set of criteria and is most widespread outside the Nordic region.

§Why it matters for you as a painter

The environmental and health requirements are not just something that concerns the purchasing department. As someone who actually handles the products daily, it is you who benefits from stricter VOC limits and better products in the form of less odour problems, better indoor climate and lower health risk over a long working life. The better you understand the MAL code and environmental labels, the better you can also advise customers who ask why one product costs more than another.