[Jewelry making - Article 00466] - Re: [Orchid] Silicosis and quenching

[John Donivan]

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    I agree that this thread is dead, but this is related. I would like
    to elaborate on where I'm coming from with another example - one of
    ventilation. I recently toured a shop in an art school - a big art
    school. Each and every soldering station has a 4 inch pipe with a
    flange on the end to suck up "fumes". I can only imagine what the
    machinery is behind that. The last shop I worked in before opening my
    own had 6 or 7 goldsmiths working 8 hours a day in the space of a two
    car garage - 12 hours on OT. It wasn't a garage, just about that
    size. There were actually about 15-18 people there, but 6-7 torches
    going all day long - we never turned them off. For ventilation, we
    opened a couple of windows. Did we have respiratory problems? Nope.
    Did we have cyanosis or dilated pupils? Nope. Did we get drowsy or
    sleepy? Nope. Did any of us get sick of related problems? Nope, not
    ever. Did any of us die from any obscure or dire diseases related to
    "fumes"? Nope, happy as clams. Multiply that by the millions of
    people working in similar circumstances and you'll get the picture.
    Do jewelers have a shorter lifespan? Nope. Do bench jewelers have any
    occupationionally related respiratory diseases greater that the
    general population? Nope. So why the six 4 inch ventilation pipes?
    Because it's school, I guess. If anybody wants to put in a gigantic
    ventilation system, and it makes them feel good, and they have peace
    of mind, that's perfectly fine with me. Karen talked about a personal
    connection to COPD, and if it eases her mind, that's perfectly fine
    with me. When somebody gets up in front of a crowd and yells at the
    top of their lungs that everybody must have 4" pipe over every
    soldering station because of "fumes", even though there's no real
    evidence to support it medically, I will get outraged, and you may
    have noticed I don't mind saying it. Are there "fumes"? Techinically,
    I guess. Do they mean anything? Since nobody in industry has had any
    statistically significant problems for a century or so, probably not.
    As people have pointed out in other context's on Orchid - do your
    homework BEFORE you write it down. On the other hand, I am probably
    the most safety aware of people in my network of jewelers - don't
    confuse what I'm saying with being casual about safety. But chasing
    molecules of "fumes" with a massive ventilation system and then
    walking outside when a bus goes by spewing diesel is pretty
    ridiculous. If a person wants to work in a hermetically sealed
    chamber and it makes them feel good and feel safe and have piece of
    mind then they'll get no argument from me. If you're going to stand
    up and say that the rest of the world somehow needs to share that
    paranoia, I will protest. 100% safety is good. 150% safety is even
    better. 10,000% safety means you don't get it. 

http://www.donivanandmaggiora.com
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