TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 630/1998
G J Carter and K Y K Chung (HSE)
Exposure to welding fume may be harmful to health, and must be controlled within limits laid down by regulations. Compliance with the regulations may be verified by measuring exposure according to standard methodologies which are presently prescribed nationally.
Background
A European standard has been drafted to ensure uniformity of exposure measurement throughout the European Community. Although generally precise in its requirements, the European standard permits equipment and procedural options which could affect exposure measurement and therefore require examination.
Accordingly, work has been performed to evaluate the effect of these options. Previous work [1] evaluated sampling during welding and grinding of stainless steel with attention to the flux-cored arc (FCA) and metal active gas (MAG) welding processes. This report considers FCA and MAG welding of carbon steel and metal inert gas (MIG) welding of aluminium alloy.
Objectives
To quantify the effects of sampling and procedural options contained in a draft European Standard on measurements of welding fume exposure.