Jelly_Sheffield
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
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- 1,195
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
In answer to the original question.
Ultimately there is no truly safe activity, and what level of risk and exposure you are comfortable with is a decision you have to make for yourself.
All welding will involve some amount of exposure to welding fume, and grinding dust.
TIG tends to be at the very clean end of the spectrum, and requires smaller workpieces, which need to be scrupulously clean, so generally involves much less fume, and somewhat less grinding.
This makes is generally at the low end of the risk spectrum for welding activities.
However, as TIG is generally used for aluminium where long term exposure is linked to Alzheimer's, and stainless steel (which contains sensitising heavy metals like Nickel and Chromium), and certain post welding cleaning processes require the use of various chemicals there's still some risk.
There's a hierarchy of how to mitigate that risk:
- Designing your workflow to minimise release of materials (e.g. machining weld prep on a lathe or mill rather than grinding),
- Reducing potential for exposure by capturing fume or dust at source (using LEV in a cabinet for grinding activities, and LEV arms, or built in torch extraction for welding fume),
- Controlling exposure with RPE and PPE (PAPR welding hoods, dust masks, overalls or welding jackets that are strictly for the work area),
- Good industrial hygiene (laundering PPE regularly, cleaning up dust before it accumulates, proper hand washing when leaving the work area, before eating or before using the toilet).
Exactly what techniques you use will depend on both:
- What the initial level of exposure and associated risk would be,
- any factors that exacerbate that risk (e.g. grinding stainless if you have a severe nickel allergy)
- what level of residual risk you consider to be tolerable.
Thus, without knowing exactly what kind of activity you will be doing and how, it's hard to give a good guide on what risks there are and how to reduce them.
For instance welding pre-machined aluminium parts would probably need only minimal interventions. Whilst hand grinding and welding beryllium-copper workpieces would require you to take every single precaution you can and be scrupulously careful about observing them (fumes containing beryllium are toxic).
It's also impossible to tell you how much risk you should choose to take, that's on you.
The generally accepted guideline for when a risk is broadly tolerable is an excess mortality of less than 1 in 100,000 (that if 100,000 people were exposed to the risk, one would die sooner than expected for a comparable person not exposed).
The HSE will accept higher levels of risk, as long as you demonstrate meeting ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practical), which to say things should be made as safe as it can be without:
- Making a necessary task impossible,
- Being demonstrably uneconomic for the entire industry sector,
- Excess Mortality exceeding 1 in 1,000 for workers, or 1 in 10,000 for members of the public (in which case the risk is intolerable, unless it's preventing something even worse)
Ultimately there is no truly safe activity, and what level of risk and exposure you are comfortable with is a decision you have to make for yourself.
All welding will involve some amount of exposure to welding fume, and grinding dust.
TIG tends to be at the very clean end of the spectrum, and requires smaller workpieces, which need to be scrupulously clean, so generally involves much less fume, and somewhat less grinding.
This makes is generally at the low end of the risk spectrum for welding activities.
However, as TIG is generally used for aluminium where long term exposure is linked to Alzheimer's, and stainless steel (which contains sensitising heavy metals like Nickel and Chromium), and certain post welding cleaning processes require the use of various chemicals there's still some risk.
There's a hierarchy of how to mitigate that risk:
- Designing your workflow to minimise release of materials (e.g. machining weld prep on a lathe or mill rather than grinding),
- Reducing potential for exposure by capturing fume or dust at source (using LEV in a cabinet for grinding activities, and LEV arms, or built in torch extraction for welding fume),
- Controlling exposure with RPE and PPE (PAPR welding hoods, dust masks, overalls or welding jackets that are strictly for the work area),
- Good industrial hygiene (laundering PPE regularly, cleaning up dust before it accumulates, proper hand washing when leaving the work area, before eating or before using the toilet).
Exactly what techniques you use will depend on both:
- What the initial level of exposure and associated risk would be,
- any factors that exacerbate that risk (e.g. grinding stainless if you have a severe nickel allergy)
- what level of residual risk you consider to be tolerable.
Thus, without knowing exactly what kind of activity you will be doing and how, it's hard to give a good guide on what risks there are and how to reduce them.
For instance welding pre-machined aluminium parts would probably need only minimal interventions. Whilst hand grinding and welding beryllium-copper workpieces would require you to take every single precaution you can and be scrupulously careful about observing them (fumes containing beryllium are toxic).
It's also impossible to tell you how much risk you should choose to take, that's on you.
The generally accepted guideline for when a risk is broadly tolerable is an excess mortality of less than 1 in 100,000 (that if 100,000 people were exposed to the risk, one would die sooner than expected for a comparable person not exposed).
The HSE will accept higher levels of risk, as long as you demonstrate meeting ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practical), which to say things should be made as safe as it can be without:
- Making a necessary task impossible,
- Being demonstrably uneconomic for the entire industry sector,
- Excess Mortality exceeding 1 in 1,000 for workers, or 1 in 10,000 for members of the public (in which case the risk is intolerable, unless it's preventing something even worse)
