Thread: Are there Health Precautions Working with Metal

I am playing around with brass, brass is in part made of lead, part of me working with brass, is filling it into supper fine dust particles, almost like gold dust.

I heard that Lie-Lielsen puts a warning on there brass tools telling you to wash your hands after use (due to laws in California).

I also know that all wood dust is cancer causing. With these facts, I have been wondering, what health precautions should or can I can I take in regards to metal dust.

Am I increasing my lead exposer working with brass, or it worth worrying about, can I reduce my exposure. Also does the fine dust particles pose a risk to my lungs, eyes (I do wear goggles), much like wood dust?

Just a little curious and an ounce of precaution is worth a pound of something.

My cousins partner is on 12 months leave from his metalwork job, due to heavy metal poisinong. His filter organs (kidney and liver) are like those of a 60 year old (he is 20 something). Medication, no drinking, drugs, eat healthy food, sleep well- basically there is nothing to do but rest and keep other poisons out of your body. Prognosis is for some sort of recovery.
Same thing happened to my brothers mate, who is a scrap sculptor, doing all his work outside or with the door open.
Filters and ventilation may seem expensive, but what is a year off work worth? Plus the medical bills...

I wouldn't worry about filing or hacksawing, but cutting with an abrasive wheel or sanding is more likely to be a source of small amounts of lead dust. How much it adds to the bath of lead dust we get every day in suburbia is hard to say. The top metre or so of every town and city in Australia is already contaminated with lead from the half a century long use of leaded petrol. That lead sits as big bits of dust on roofs and gutters, inside attics and ceilings and in the top part of the soil - as it dries and gets disturbed it gets made into dust.

Leaded paint is still around and it slowly decomposes adding to lead in the environment. The lead content of soil around old houses that have been renovated has higher lead levels. Fertilizer has small amounts of lead in it, Coal contains some lead and and just to add to the mix some mining companies are not all that careful with the mining and transport activities. All these activities pump small amounts of lead into the atmosphere that makes up our daily intake.

The average person (well Uni student anyway) has around 100 micrograms of lead on their hands. How do I know this? Well we got students to wash their hands before after soaking their hands in dilute acid and we measured the amount of lead dissolved into the acid. Interestingly a vigorous wash and scrub only removes about 75% suggesting it is embedded in the skin. At work we run a volunteer network of ~200 micro dust collectors all around the world. we collect dust and analyse it for lead - using lead isotopes we can even track lead sources and point the finger at possible environmental contaminators.

Anyway what does all this mean in practice?

I generally run my DC and vent outside whether it's metal work or wood work. My upturned Belt Sander on which I sand a fair bit of brass is connected directly to my DC. With welding or soldering, I place a DC inlet above the vice where I work to catch the fumes. I wear a Triton mask if I am working with brass for an extended period. I recommend thorough washing after handling brass and especially before consuming food. Apart from the lead content, little flakes of brass can lodge in a skin crack and turn septic which is not pleasant.

Hi
Basically anything that can be ingested or inhaled into our systems bears looking at. As a metalworker without protection that outcome is quite likely.

Either as a dust or vapour there are some metals that are carcinogenic. Chrominium is one that readily comes to mind

The metalworker workers union some years back now printed a booklet on the harmful effects of some metals.You may be able to chase one up through the union or a Tafe library.

Otherwise if you think something is a bit suss Google it up and do a MSDS check on it. It stands for Materials Safety Data Sheet.
Obvious precautions are a respirator mask and a dust extraction unit and filter.
Grahame

Grahame

my father taught me long ago, dont touch the red bits..

Originally Posted by wayno60

my father taught me long ago, dont touch the red bits..

Mine said to keep away from the pink bits. That probably doesn't help though.

another thing he told me was, that if the pink is covered by the black go the brown.

thats along the same thing you are talking about.

Hi TS,
as has already been said... yes it is a real issue.
As for the brass have a read of its MSDS here:
http://www.etchrevere.com/downloads/...brass_msds.pdf

If you are working with it day in and day out you may have an issue. Wash your hands after handling, before eating. If you handle brass for several hours on end and have corrosive skin(sweat) your hands will go green. If you forget this and rub your eyes it stings like all get out.
I have played musical instruments made of brass and nickel silver for a long time and I don't like the summer months for this very reason after a 3 hr rehearsal or show my hands look like the are from Mars.

Forty-two years ago when I was an apprentice of some sort, I was taught to be careful of non-ferrous metal splinters getting in the eyes as the doctors cannot use a magnet to extract the splinter of metal as they can with steel.

The lesson was especially graphic as we had to watch a movie of an eye operation to remove a splinter of brass. In that movie, the eye went redder and redder as the operation proceeded and forty-two years later, I can still remember it clearly and the effect it had on me always to wear eye protection when dealing with cutting or grinding metals.

Hmmm......minimise the risks by making sure to stay out of the sun while doing this kind of metalwork. Studies have shown that mere sunlight is a cancer causing phenomenen.....believe it or not. Seriously though...any fine particle be it ingested, inhailed or absorbed is potentially bad for you, especially metals.