Formaldehyde concentrations in workrooms resulting from off-gassing from sandpaper

Formaldehyde was found to off-gas from flint sandpaper that contained an urea-formaldehyde resin as the minor component in a double glue system. Approximately 2000 sheets of sandpaper in a 115 m3 (4050 ft3) ship's storeroom with no mechanical ventilation produced a formaldehyde concentration of at least 4.5 ppm that was uniform throughout the compartment. A contributing factor was elevated compartment temperature due to high ambient temperature and the heating of the ship's steel hull by direct exposure to the sun.