Post by puipeb on Apr 17, 2020 14:38:01 GMT -5
One of the jobs I was in charge of in manufacturing was Health and Safety. Over a period of several months, at one facility, some of our employees began to experience neurological symptoms of significant impact.
We finally narrowed down the impact to employees who were operating lead extruders that formed a protective lead covering over uncured hydraulic hose before it was put in an oven and baked to cure the rubber.
Through extensive investigation, the employees were tested and it was found they had high blood levels of lead. There was no way just handling lead could result in these high blood levels. We discovered that all the affected employees were smokers. They were not washing their hands before going on smoke breaks. The lead got on the cigarettes and the employees were literally inhaling vaporized lead. We initiated very strict hand washing rules and the problem disappeared. We finally replaced the lead with an extrudable high temp polymer. Fortunately, no permanent damage was done.
We are grinding stones into very small particle sizes and we have no knowledge of their full chemical content. Other than the risk of silicosis, I’ve never seen any info addressing the issue of poisonous metals, especially selenium, lead, cadmium, beryllium, arsenic and a trove of others. We expose our hands and clothes to these sub-micron size particles again and again under dry and wet conditions. No one seems to address this potential route of entry into our skin or lungs. Have you ever heard of anyone experiencing any odd lung or skin problems directly related to grinding a large variety of rough stones?
I’m not being an alarmist, just curious about materials which could contain highly poisonous impurities.
Wash your hands thoroughly after handling stones and grinding sludge. Don’t bring the mud or dust back into your house and expose your family to potentially harmful substances. When I got home from even visiting these areas, I stripped down and immediately showered. My wife washed my clothes separately from the household laundry. This was an extreme case but, gives reason to really think about what we are doing.
I would appreciate any information you might have on this subject.
We finally narrowed down the impact to employees who were operating lead extruders that formed a protective lead covering over uncured hydraulic hose before it was put in an oven and baked to cure the rubber.
Through extensive investigation, the employees were tested and it was found they had high blood levels of lead. There was no way just handling lead could result in these high blood levels. We discovered that all the affected employees were smokers. They were not washing their hands before going on smoke breaks. The lead got on the cigarettes and the employees were literally inhaling vaporized lead. We initiated very strict hand washing rules and the problem disappeared. We finally replaced the lead with an extrudable high temp polymer. Fortunately, no permanent damage was done.
We are grinding stones into very small particle sizes and we have no knowledge of their full chemical content. Other than the risk of silicosis, I’ve never seen any info addressing the issue of poisonous metals, especially selenium, lead, cadmium, beryllium, arsenic and a trove of others. We expose our hands and clothes to these sub-micron size particles again and again under dry and wet conditions. No one seems to address this potential route of entry into our skin or lungs. Have you ever heard of anyone experiencing any odd lung or skin problems directly related to grinding a large variety of rough stones?
I’m not being an alarmist, just curious about materials which could contain highly poisonous impurities.
Wash your hands thoroughly after handling stones and grinding sludge. Don’t bring the mud or dust back into your house and expose your family to potentially harmful substances. When I got home from even visiting these areas, I stripped down and immediately showered. My wife washed my clothes separately from the household laundry. This was an extreme case but, gives reason to really think about what we are doing.
I would appreciate any information you might have on this subject.