[Jewelry making - Article 00232] - Re: [Orchid] Silicosis and quenching

[John Donivan]

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>     I do tend to be more careful, and more paranoid from the posts on
>     this forum. However, at 60, however careful I am with diet, care
>     with chemicals, ect. 

    Time to change the subject of this thread.....Everything everybody
    has said about investment is true - or almost. Yes, there is a
    hazard, no it's relatively small unless you use a lot. To me the
    point to be made is about safety in general. We live in an unsafe
    world, and work in a comparatively unsafe business. I've run several
    shops, where it was my job to keep track of safety, BTW. What it
    always boils down to is risk analysis, which for us usually is a
    finger in the wind process. Meaning: Polishing dust is bad for you,
    so are you going to put in a $25,000 clean-room ventilation system if
    you polish once a week in your apartment? If you cast 4 small flasks
    a week do you need to have a $10,000 filtration system? I'm not going
    to sit here and say that people should be unsafe or work in hazardous
    conditions, but let's be real. As a metalsmith you will contact
    acids, heavy metals, nasty solvents, much dust of all kinds, many
    sharp tools and spinning and whirring devices, and you cannot
    function in a cocoon, nor should you. Yes, it would be good to work
    in a $250,000 facility, but it's preposterous to suppose that
    everybody making $15,000 worth of jewelry a year is going to shell
    out $100,000 for safety equipment to protect them from every thing I
    mentioned above. Ain't gonna happen....... Safety is a state of mind,
    and a knowlege of the environment one is working in, and best
    practices. I just don't find the sort of things like, "Well, you
    should have a micromotor nuclear powered ultimate filtration system
    that cleans the air to 1/10 micron - they're only $60,000" because
    you ~~~might~~~ inhale a bit of dust once a week to be useful at all
    - it's just not realistic for almost everybody. Nor do I listen to
    passive-aggressive statements like, "So, how much do you think a
    human life is worth? Heh?!?" Risk assessment. Use it. Again, the
    people who get to casting 300 flasks a week already know about those
    things. Somebody who's casting a 1 1/2" flask a week could probably
    just open a window and hold their breath or wear a mask. Getting all
    uptight about every ppm of exhaust and smog and solvent and painting
    your bedroom and on and on will put you in the fetal position under
    your bed. Quit eating fried foods........... As always, perspective.

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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