Welding Safety

Welding
 Welding joins two pieces of metal by the use of
heat, pressure, or both
 Brazing or soldering involves a filler metal which
has a lower melting point than the metal pieces
to be joined
 Metal cutting is done by heating the metal with a
flame and directing a stream of pure oxygen
along the line to be cut
Welding
 Arc Welding
 Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW)
 Metal Inert Gas (MIG)
 Tungsten
T t IInertt G
Gas (TIG)
 Plaza Arc Welding (PAW)
 Submerged Arc Welding (SAW)
 And Many More
More…..more
more than 80 in all
Health Hazards
 Gases and Fumes…
 Welding g “Smoke” is a mixture of veryy fine pparticles
called fumes and gases
 Welding “Smoke” contains fumes and gases including…
 Chromium, nickel, arsenic, asbestos, manganese,
silica, beryllium, cadmium, nitrogen oxides, phosgene,
acrolein, flourine compounds, carbon monoxide, cobalt,
copper, lead, ozone, selenium, and zinc
Health Hazards…Gases & Fumes
 Generally, gases and fumes come from…
 Base material & filler material
 Coatings & paints
 Shielding
Shi ldi gases & chemical
h i l reactions
ti
 Process & consumables used
 Contaminants in the air
Health Hazards
 It is difficult to list all the health effects of welding
p
exposures because the fumes mayy contain so
many different substances that are known to be
harmful
 The individual components of welding “smoke”
can affect just about any part of the body,
body
including the lungs, heart, kidneys, & central
nervous system
Health Hazards
 Exposure to welding “smoke” may have…
 Short
Short-term
term effects…
effects
Effects happen at or very soon after exposure
 Long-term
Long term effects
Effects may happen after repeated overexposures or
an extended time after the exposure