Don't breathe the smoke.

CAUTION Don't breathe the smoke.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/projects/entry/358
Stay up wind. Don't breathe the smoke. Keep your head out of the smoke. Use good ventilation when working indoors. Use respirators when needed.
Good luck.

What a great and useful post! Stupid people everywhere will owe you their lives. This thread needs some more important information.
Don't drop anvils on your foot. Dont put acetylene bombs in the toilet. Don't weld naked.

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SM, I think that, jokes aside, the original post was very useful. Maybe it will make some people provide some better ventilation of the work areas.
i

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I knew there was a reason you were in my round file.

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Did you read the info in the link? There are plenty of enclosed spaces where hardsurfacing needs to be applied and til lately not much was required for safety gear. I would have given damn near anything for a supplied air respirator back when I was building up and hardsurfacing crusher rolls. Steve

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Yes, but its preaching to the choir. For hobby welders, read the directions, don't breathe the fumes.

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Can't agree with the last one. It would save a lot of money in tanning beds and vacations in tropical places. Just gather around folks... we'll take off our clothes and fire up the old buzzbox and save the air fare to Timbuktoo........to say nothing of the hotel costs.
Cheers,
Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

The original article has been around for a while, and has surfaced before. Anyone who believes that there are no potentially toxic side effects from arc welding operations is clueless.
Whose responsibility is it to point out to people that they are exposing themselves to carcinogens and toxic quantities of metal fumes? Is it the manufacturer's? The government's? The end-user, who should realize that inhaling anything other than straight up clean atmosphere is bad for you?
This is just like the tobacco litigation crap. There are means available to protect yourself, if you are willing to use them. You may even have to provide your own respirator, but which would you rather do? Pay for a respirator and cartridges, or pay for lung cancer, mesothelioma, or magnesium-lead-cadmium-arsenic poisoning?
I agree that you should not have to pay for your own protection, it should be provided by the employer. However, it is still up to you whether you wear it or not.

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Yes, the manufacurer should be responsible for proper labeling and safety gear recomendations.
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As a watchdog for irresponsible companies.
The employer should make sure safety warnings are read and understood and safety equipment is available.
The end-user,
Should read and understand safety warnings and use proper safety equipment.
who should realize
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Dont weld naked? Why the hell not?!
Ive welded naked for nearly 30 yrs with no problems!!
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/86303/naked-repairman.html
See!
Gunner
"Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimum food or water,in austere conditions, day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon. He doesn't worry about what workout to do--- his rucksack weighs what it weighs, and he runs until the enemy stops chasing him. The True Believer doesn't care 'how hard it is'; he knows he either wins or he dies. He doesn't go home at 1700; he is home. He knows only the 'Cause.' Now, who wants to quit?"
NCOIC of the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course in a welcome speech to new SF candidates

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Yabut you were wearing BOOTS! <grin>

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But of course! Safety MUST be observed.
<G>
Gunner
"Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimum food or water,in austere conditions, day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon. He doesn't worry about what workout to do--- his rucksack weighs what it weighs, and he runs until the enemy stops chasing him. The True Believer doesn't care 'how hard it is'; he knows he either wins or he dies. He doesn't go home at 1700; he is home. He knows only the 'Cause.' Now, who wants to quit?"
NCOIC of the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course in a welcome speech to new SF candidates

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Well, duh. You can't weld when you're hopping. And like Burt Reynolds in that movie with Demi Moore, if you use enough Vaseline, the dingleberries just bounce off you and don't stick. But he liked Vaseline in his boots. Never tried that, but there's always Fridays............
Steve

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For the idiots and the clueless, this stuff will kill you or at least change the quality of your retirement years. Safety can never be stressed too much. We've heard it all before. We've all been to thousands of safety meetings, going over the same ole hooray. And yet people end up with the nickname "Stumpy" and get sent home for going blind all the time.
What, we've invented everything, so lets close the invention office? We've heard all the safety stuff, so lets just shut up about it?
I think not.
Reading the replies to this post, I now remember why at least one of them is in my electronic round file.
Use that PPE, people, particularly ear protection while welding.
Steve

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We have both too often seen the results on the 'bad old jobs' where safety was thought to be too expensive and too slow. We both know that proper safety takes training, information and commitment.
We all fall into the trap of thinking that we do not need hearing protection for a short little job, but all those short jobs add up and grinders (and ArcAir) in particular are much louder than we think Ear plugs have the added function of helping to keep sparks out of your ears. I often use a set or earplugs on a light plastic C frame that are easy to put on and off. I also have a very thin set of ear muffs which will fit under my standard welding mask or even a hardhat-mask combo as required on many big, heavy (and usually loud) jobs.
Safety glasses should be worn at ALL times.
Pilots say, 'Be thankful for luck, but don't count on it.'
Good luck and Worksafe.

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Hearing/Ear protection for welding is primarily for keeping the hot stuff out of the ear canal. Hard to believe how much can come around to the inside of the mask when welding under a vehicle.

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And how quick they are, how much they can bounce, and how they always head for the ears.
Steve

Sorry, Bill, but you've obviously never worked in a shipyard or other "high productivity" welding zone. Imagine 4 needleguns pounding away at paint on the opposite side of the tank that you are cladding in.
Hearing protection is essential for the noise. Only time you need it for sparks is if you're outta control.

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Lizzie, I know from years of reading you here that you are a highly experienced weldor. Every man has their own preferences and peculiarities, even superstitions when it comes to working. Ear canal protection against dingleberries is one of mine. The two things, noise, and hot sparks are entirely different safety issues. And I do know how much hassle ear plugs can be, particularly when you're in an area that you NEED to hear stuff. But then there's all that 99% of needleguns (BTDT) and the 1% of what you really need to hear. My worst problems with earplugs was about once every year or two when I had a large pore in there that would become plugged, and then grow to a huge painful zit, then pop and drain, total time ........ one month.
From what I've read of you, I'd have no problems working with you, and maybe we met somewhere in another life.
Steve

I've been fortunate, I've never had a spark land in my ear. I often catch myself not wearing hearing protection (I grabbed plugs on way to boat) but was chatting with someone, climb into tank or to other side of a bulkhead, worked for a while, then got deafened when someone started their high noise evolution. I quickly drop my stinger, gun, torch, whatever and grab those earplugs!
My worst scars come from getting packed into a crack or crevice and having to carbon-arc. The spaces I get put into, there's nowhere for the dross to go but back on me. I've learned to arc with minimal air, just trying to drip it out of the joint very carefully.