There are just alot of things that are done regularly that are really dangerous but for some reason the folks involved have not had a disaster yet. Like misuse of gasoline, welding galvanize etc. Irn mentioned Paw Paw. It has been a while since his death so I will give the short version. He put some galvanized metal in the forge. He became very ill and the Docs could not chase it down. He had his family research heavy metal poisoning and the Descrition descride his signs and symptoms. It was too late for him and he passed on.
A short sniff of toxic fumes from any source may not seem to have an affect on you but then again it may. Since I do not know I like to tip the scales in my favor.
A prime concept to consider is how do the fumes get to you, through inhalation, not ingestion. You breathe the fumes not drink them. Think about the milk thing. I know this will not be a popular statement as I personnally know there are a lot of welders that will work in a shop if there is not cold milk availeable.
Back to me. I will weld galvanize and did so yesterday. I ground the surfaces clean while a fan blew the air away from me while I worked,,,including welding. I used a flux core wire and the air flow did not bother it like a gas shield. But then an indirect flow of air could do the same thing if you use gas shield. And at times I like a big glass of cold milk!  |