Abrasive grit blasting health concerns

Abrasive grit blasting health concerns

Abrasive grit blasting health concerns

Abrasive grit blasting, otherwise loosely called sand blasting is being used in many industrial houses for various purposes such as preparing a surface for subsequent coating and finishing operations, providing a specific type of surface finish or simply to clean parts to get rid of dirt and other contaminants. The process involves the use of an abrasive grit blasting media, propelled under pressure either utilizing air or a liquid such as water on to a part that is usually in a grit blasting cabinet or room. In this article we will limit ourselves to discussing the process of abrasive grit blasting utilizing air and involving a grit blast cabinet.

While companies generally place all their efforts on meeting quality requirements of the grit blasted component, delivery requirements, parameter requirements and pricing issues, many times operator health concerns are overlooked. This can be quite dangerous, since companies can be held liable for overlooking operator health issues and such legal battles can result in extensive financial damages to companies. It is the purpose of this article to discuss just two of the health related issues that pertain to abrasive grit blasting processes.

The first health related issue pertains to the material of the component that is being worked on. One must check the material composition of the workpiece that is grit blasted to ensure that the dust that is generated does not pose health hazards. Dust from certain materials such as cadmium are known to be carcinogenic in nature and must be avoided altogether if at all possible. If such a material needs to be worked on then all of the necessary health precautions need to be taken such as providing the operator with a self contained breathing apparatus or similar device and the equipment must be attached with high power dust collectors as a minimum. It is preferable in such cases to avoid pneumatic systems altogether and preferably go with wet blasting.

The second health related issue pertains to dust from the abrasive media themselves. This dust can settle in the lungs of operators and cause significant pulmonary problems. Hence the choice of abrasive media must be made with operator health issues in mind. Certain materials such as silica, copper slag, etc must be avoided altogether since these are known to cause lung problems. When possible, one must try to avoid extremely fine size grit blasting media and if such a situation cannot be avoided then the operators must be provided with proper respirators, preferably self contained breathing apparatus that supply certified breathing air.

As you can see, taking some simple precautions can not only avoid dangers to the health of your operators, it can also protect your company from expensive legal battles.

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