Welding arc flashed, now what to do?

[Glenn]

We all have gotten out of time and hit the stinger before the hood went down. Results is arc flash or welding flash. Or some one near by is welding and you keep getting reflections from the white wall or hit with their arc.

What do you do to keep from getting arc flash?
What can you do to ease the red eye, flash symptoms, and or pain?

[mike-hr]

I paid about $700 for one of the first Jackson 3-in-one auto-dim hoods when they came out. It can switch to clear, flame cutting, or arc welding. I don't know what they cost now, probably much less. It's pushing ten yrs old, still working great. I'll buy another one when it finally gives up. A good auto-dim hood for arc welding only can be had for $150 or less. Just leave the hood down when production welding, no problems..

[J W Bennett]

Burnt my eyes last fall real good with a plasma cutter, stupidity was the reason. I have also burnt my eyes welding in tanks and material bins from reflection off the metal.
I recently bought a auto-dimming hood to weld with and really like it. It is just a cheapy from HF. However it won't go dim enough to plasma cut with.
As far as the pain goes the old potato trick helps alittle but not much. I'm to cheap to go to the emergency room (you never seem to realize how bad it is till you go to bed.) so I usually just lose some sleep and cuss myself.

John

[sstreckfuss]

I have done it 2 or 3 times over the years, the last time while welding galvanized which made my stomach sick as well. I haven't found anything to ease the suffering except good old fashioned sleep.

[fossilmaniac]

If you ever get into the smoke from welding galvanized metal then the best thing to do is treat it like heavy metal poisoning. Immediatley drink lots of milk. That helps to chelate the zinc and bind it to the protien thus enabling your body to process it and excrete it.

[RainsFire]

Our shop has these really nice glasses that are treated to block out some of the flash, and are tinted slightly.. they obviously won't protect you from staring straight at even an oxy acetelyn flame for an extended ammount of time, but they do cut down on accidental flash burns.

[eburgblue]

An old trick for the eye pain after flashburn is to use milk as an eyewash.

[blubrick]

JWB, for raw newbs like myself, just saying "stupidity was the reason" doesn't say very much. I might be doing, or about to do the same stupid thing without even realizing how stupid it is.

Similarly, I've never heard of the old potato trick. I guess you put cut pieces of raw potato over your closed eyes? I've heard of people doing the same thing with cold teabags.

[J W Bennett]

Blubrick,
I got in a hurry and could not see the outlines for 150 rose petals I needed to cut out. Instead of digging out and setting up 2 floodlights I took my shaded glasses off and cut about 50 out with the plasma cutter without any eye protection. If I had seen someone else doing the same thing I would have stopped them and warned them not to. The resulting burn was a very bad night and next day. I knew better and did it anyway thus "STUPIDITY" my fault no one elses and no excuses for my actions.

Yep you have the gist of the potato thing. I think it does help but when your in that kinda misery so would a kick in the groin:o it would take your mind off of your eyes for a short while:(. Seriously though it's not something you want to experience for yourself.

John

[Timekiller]

Im surprised, with my stupidity... I have never received bad flashburn. At most my eyes tingle a bit at night. But I did hear the potato trick. I guess the miller auto darkening helmet helped a LOT with this problem.

Now... as far as "sunburn" I have had that on many occasions, I believe the worst was the inside of my knee. It hurt to walk. Now I always have a long sleve cotton shirt, and denim or cotton pants. I had a sweet "farmers tan" a few summers ago, while welding up about 20 bicycles.

[evfreek]

Once upon a time, I took a metalworking class at adult ed. There were a couple of artists there doing metal sculpture. One of them put her sculpture right in the middle of the shop and she would strike an arc at random times, even when hands-on instruction was given. Eventually, some of us complained to her, and we were sharply reminded to "keep our eyes where they belong". Probably, she was used to being the center of attention and did not give a care about anybody she did not feel like warning.

I picked up a trick from an old timer which worked pretty well. Wear a pair of flash goggles. If in doubt, use the lightest shade IR & UV goggles possible. Also, 99% + wrap around polycarbonate sports sunglasses work well. Some people had their doubts, but I chucked a pair on to a Beckman spectrophotometer, and it had excellent near UV protection. A couple of seconds of flash is OK at 50 feet, and 99% will get you in to 5 feet with the same exposure. It absolutely got rid of the "sand in the eyes" problem, but you still saw stars and cursed the self-absorption of the inconsiderate flashers under your breath. Polycarbonate sunglasses are shade 1 or 2, so just add that to your welding glass. For example, if you normally use a 10, you can use the 8 with these glasses and just leave them on all the time. Just watch out for the tripping hazard.

[Dodge]

Avoiding flash burn can be tough, especially in production settings, and in case nobody said it yet, "It REALLY hurts!!!" I learned, in a safety meeting, that most flash burned eyes occur from a welder other than the victim. You just gotta get in turn with others around you. You need to get a "feel" for when someone near is going to start a weld. You start to notice the tell-tale nod as they aim the stinger or MIG gun. I only suffered two or three times in my 18 years as a production welder and that was in the first 1 or 2 years. Only takes a couple times to start learning how to avoid it.
Auto-darken hoods are a godsend. I got so spoiled at work that I convinced my wife and kids that one would make a terrific Christmas present for home work a couple years ago
Relief can be tougher than avoiding it. Ive tried the potatoes, cucumbers, Visine, etc. The only thing that was truly effective was time, and as sstreckfuss stated, sleep. The best cure I found in the end was avoidance. However, I have been told, but never confirmed, that there are super effective eye drops made especially for welders available at eye doctors.
Anybody know for sure about this??

[Dodge]

BTW, eyes aren't the only thing that can get flash burned. Cover all skin that will be exposed to the rays. This type of burn is, as I learned from perhaps the same safety meeting as the above post, worse than a sunburn as far as the possibility of skin cancer! :(I believe this due to the concentrated UV rays inherent to welding flash. Watch American Chopper, Muscle Car, American Hotrod, etc. They, quite often, weld without skin protection, and to me this is stupid and bad television. Try not to mimic them except for the awesome projects they produce. I shall stow my soapbox now LOL

[tbarm]

I agree the quick change helmets are a great invention. If you weld and don't have one try one out and you will buy it. I worked in a production shop for years and we put sunblock on each day sometimes twice. Really helped ease the skin pain. I don't know if doctors have eyedrops but the company store had some that worked really good for flashburn. Probably could get them from welding supply store. They helped but sleep helped more than anything, that is when you could finally fall asleep through the pain. Protect your eyes, it would be hard to forge without them.

[Ten Hammers]

I guess I am blessed. I have only had eye burn twice. Both times from plasma at home. I weld in a shop the has sometimes 4 or 5 sets of welders in seperate locations making 20 or 30 tacks before starting welding ( and have worked in other places the same or worse ). Automatic lenses are great yes. At work they supply us with Huntsman battery powered with 2 sensors at top. One aaa battery lasts long time. I have a hundred dollar Huntsman at home ( solar ) and I would NOT recommend it. I will buy either a full screen automatic to fit one of the shop helmets eventually. Solar sucks. Sunlight is hard to come by frequently. I may or may not weld at home for days ( mig anyway ). I use shade 5's to gas weld. I also now use the same shade 5's for plasma. The red lens Jackson helmet will not be replaced at home until I have a good automatic.

[David Jacobson]

One time when I had arc flash about 15 years ago, I was visiting a friend who had just married a kinda hippie woman who was all into erbal stuff. She seen my reed arc flashed eyeballs and knew just what to do. She went out into her back yard and picked some leaves off a borage weed. Then she put them into an old coffee kettel and she steamed the leaves somehow and put the liquid in a eye droper for me. It worked like magic! no more sand paper eyes.

Dave Jacobson

[arftist]

I go to the emergency room when I get flashed bad enough. I have had to call a taxi at 2 am a couple times. The medicine they put in your eyes is worth every penny. Things to avoid: other people welding while you are not welding (put up a welding curtain if this can't be avoided), White tee shirts, walls painted white, too low shade #( I use #12) and cracked or broken sheilds. The doctor said the more you have been flashed, the more likely to happen again.

[Dave M]

I will recomend against using gold lens welding hoods. Here is the reason, the gold coating on the lens is easy to scratch and if you don't know its scratched or can't see the scratch or scratches you will get flashed through these scratches and not even know it until it is too late. Last year I was welding new floor plates into the beds of Cat rock trucks & end dumps all day with my fancy gold lens welding hood, by bed time it felt like I had ground glass mixed with sand in both of my eyes. Now before you think I may have gotten back flashed of the surface I was welding I modify all of my welding hoods with a snap on leather throat protector, this cuts down on fumes getting in my hood and my throat getting flash burned. Upon shinning a flashlight through the lens I could see light coming through the scratches.:mad: Now that hood has been refitted with an auto darkening lens.:cool:

[jimmy seale]

well gents,i have worked with lots of welders and, most will holler watch your eyes before they arch. that is a good thing to remember and use

[dragonflySmithy]

When using a plasma I wear yellow safty glasses that are uv blocking. I also wear them while welding under my hood. As far as haveing to flame cut or weld galvanized steel I use a mask with filters that are rated for the job. It is made by the 3M corp and cost me like $20. The filters on the mask are replaceable. It is a life saver. The only other thing that I could add is to make sure the you have good air flow in your shop.

[Rutterbush]

I'm repeating what several eye doctors have told me over the past millennium.

Potatoes have the possibility of bacteria. Why would you put this in your eyes? However, cool potatoes help remove heat. A cool wet cloth does the same.

Visine is advertised to "get the red out". It does this by making the blood vessels contract. The reason the blood vessels expanded was to allow the blood to carry more oxygen to your eyes. Oxygen helps the healing process.

Tears are one way the eye attempts to wash away something that's not supposed to be there. Tears also carry chemicals, minerals and help lubricate the eye. NOT Visine, but Man Made Tears do help. This is packaged in the same type bottle as Visine, but is clearly marked as Man made tears or something that identifies it.

I agree about the gold lens. If it's polycarbonate it's usually marked with a statement such as "Discard if scratched". Unless you buy the $100.00 gold plated glass dark lens with the permanently attached clear cover lens the gold scratches way too easy.

Going to the doctor is the best thing to do. I've worked with several welders who got Ponacaine (spp) to numb their eyes. It works, but if you don't cover your numb eyes you'll never know if something gets in them and cuts them up. Don't self medicate. Doctors paid a lot of money to learn how to put those drops in your eyes. They also pay huge malpractice insurance saying they won't intentionally hurt you. At least that's the way it's supposed to work.

[jdustu]

I always carry industrial eye drops with me. Anytime I think I've been flashed I go put some in. And to this point I've never had the dreaded "sand in the eye" feeling.

I agree with Dodge about the reality "build" shows. I always laugh at the guys wearing short sleeve shirts and no helmets welding up a gas tank or whatever. I'm sure they aren't doing that all day long, and it really doean't send the right message to wanna be welders watching the show.

FWI the Jackson Nexgen helmets are well under $300 now.

-Josh

[aametalmaster]

I have had a real bad flash only twice in 30+ years. Use a used tea bag on your eyes to ease the pain and have a hot cup of tea in the meantime...Bob

[squire]

When I was in the trade we used cold tea bags over each eye and wraped a tea towel tightly around the head to ease acr eye.I never heard of using spuds which is funny as Im Irish.
Hopefully I wont have to try it.

[KCfabricator]

I wish I had $1 for every time I flashed or set myself on fire.