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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Any dangers to us solder slingers? posted by Tweaker81 on December 8, 2004 at 00:17:10:
I used to work in occupational health and safety here in Australia, though in an office setting.I'm not familiar with the US law/standards/practices though research tends to travel well. The US often seemed to have poorer standards (ie standards which exposed workers to a higher level of risk) than Australia.
I do know that in Australia, workplaces doing some automotive work which relied on lead solder were required to have extraction fans and I think the workers also wore breathing protection. Note that this applies to people doing lots of soldering on an 8 hour a day/5 day a week basis.
The problem is always with exposure levels because absorption primarily depends on exposure. If exposure is low, absorption is low. If you're a hobbyist doing a few minutes soldering every now and then, your exposure will be a little higher than average but only marginally so. That probably isn't an issue unless you also live in an industrial area where a fair amount of lead gets into the air so everyone is getting a higher than average exposure anyway. If you spend hours soldering on a regular basis, then you may well have a problem.
The simplest solution is to use lead free solder if you can, or if not then use solder with the lowest lead content you can get away with. Lowering lead content in the solder should also lower lead content in the fumes, and that lowers your exposure since exposure is determined by the lead content in the fumes and the time for which you are exposed to the fumes.
A well ventilated workshop would be a big plus, especially if you can arrange things so solder fumes are sucked away from you instead of blown towards you. You can go to a safety shop and investigate various forms of breathing protection if you want more than that. These precautions may be of value even with lead free solder. I don't know what other metals are used in solder so I can't check on the health effects of their fumes but there is no harm and possibly some good in avoiding exposure to any fumes.
David Aiken
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Follow Ups
- Re: Any dangers to us solder slingers? - David Aiken 12:38:44 12/08/04 (1)
- Re: Any dangers to us solder slingers? - gregorach 04:57:46 12/09/04 (0)
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