ACTSNYC@cs.com on mon 21 feb 00
In a message dated 2/19/00 8:59:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
eiblodge@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca writes:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 20:34:02 EST
> From: Graeme Anderson
> Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
> To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
> Subject: Silica/dust
> Resent-Subject: Silica/dust
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> ------------------
> Part of a letter from Julie Fraser in a technical bulletin of the Potter's
> Soc. ca 1979 -
> "In Stoke-on-Trent, 1% of the throwers still die of silicosis.....
And many others do not die of the silica, but die of heart attacks and other
diseases exacerbated by breathing problems caused by silica in the lungs.
And old age health problems in general can be complicated by having spent
years depositing silica in your lungs.
>.....despite the
> fact they only handle wet clay. The cause has been attributed to their
wiping
> the clay from their hands onto their overalls. The heat from their bodies
causes
> the dry clay particles to rise from their clothing, and then they inhale
it. <
There are some wonderful pictures of this problem in some books on industrial
hygiene. If you take a picture of a person in clay soiled clothing in
ordinary light, you see nothing. But if the picture is taken in a special
kind of organized light (a Tyndall light), you can see the fine smoke-like
dust particles rising from the clothing on body heat currents right up to the
area of the nose!
Remember, the particles of silica that cause the damage are the ones you
can't normally see.
The silica in the clay is not the only clothing dust problem if you also
glaze. You are inhaling small amounts of this dust as well.
> Airborne dust particles sink at the rate of only one foot per hour. Now
> throwers are required to wear clear terylene which absorbs less clay than
> cotton does. The studio potters wear vynil aprons. Several I knew were
switching
> from sweeping their studios, to vacuuming them with a wet/dry industrial
vacuum.
> The industrial specification for ceramic industries in England requires
that a
> concrete floor with a trough down the centre be serviced to the depth of 2
"
> every 24 hours."
> Graeme Anderson. Gemopal Pottery. Lightning Ridge.Australia. 2834.
>
Good suggestions. The studio really should look like a nuclear lab. That's
how the Lenox China and other commercial plants look. They clean this well
because OSHA requires periodic air monitoring of silica and other dusts in
the workplace. You can't pass if there is a layer of dust on everything.
Every little air current--even just walking around in the studio--stirs it up.
Monona Rossol
ACTS
181 Thompson St., # 23
NYC NY 10012-2586 212/777-0062
ACTSNYC@cs.com
Don & Isao Morrill on tue 22 feb 00
At 16:32 2/21/00 EST, ACTSNYC@cs.com wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>In a message dated 2/19/00 8:59:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>eiblodge@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca writes:
>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> While anyone must be in agreement with the o\post re: Silica dust,
I find the answer far too narrow in its scope. We we walk,we drive,we
inhale and exhale throughout the world and ALL human activities may result
in the ingestion of silica as well as an entire range of micron-sized
particles. It is not that we need become hysterical but that we certainly
should be conscious. Many years ago,I suggested that air-filters in
buildings should go through analysis,although my specific concern was with
radioactive fallout. In a quite cursory Geiger check,we found increases
beyond normal,(?) background. Chemical analysis would undoubtedly find a
great variety and concentration,,,,as for example,the homr vacuum-cleaner.
DonM
Don & Isao Sanami Morrill
e-Mail:
John K Dellow on wed 23 feb 00
>
> Good suggestions. The studio really should look like a nuclear lab. That's
> how the Lenox China and other commercial plants look. They clean this well
> because OSHA requires periodic air monitoring of silica and other dusts in
> the workplace. You can't pass if there is a layer of dust on everything.
> Every little air current--even just walking around in the studio--stirs it up.
>
Pull the other one Monona it plays ginglebells . IMO is you are
comparing mountains with mole hills . May be correct for industry
where fine white clays are slip -cast ,but not necessarily so
where dark more plastic clays are thrown.
John Dellow "the flower pot man"
Home Page http://www.welcome.to/jkdellow
http://digitalfire.com/education/people/dellow/
Join AllAdvantage.com and get paid to surf the Web!
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Judith Enright on thu 24 feb 00
Just want to put in my two-cents worth here, folks. I started out in
a tiny tiny space, inside my home, and learned very early on that
cleanliness is next to godliness. So at the end of each day I swept
and damp-mopped, cleaned all my tools, installed an air cleaner,
learned to use respirators and dust masks, banned the cat from the
room, kept the door closed, etc. I learned to work 'clean' to
protect myself, my husband, and visitors. And the cat, too. When we
recently moved to our new home with a separate 400+ sft outbuilding
which is now my studio, I took all those habits with me. A troop of
girl scouts came this past Monday for a tour and group lesson, and
one of the adult leaders commented that my studio didn't look like a
'real' studio because it was too clean Apparently my place was
cleaner than the local 'decorate-your-own' mold boutique. Oh well.
I firmly believe that studio safety is not just a matter of common
sense, but education, too. Here's where Monona and the others
provide such a real service, reminding us all that we're not in a
risk-free enterprise. Just as we need to make certain that the work
we sell as 'foodsafe' really is, we need to make sure that the
environments in which we work and sell our product is safe to
ourselves, our workmates and our customers.
Getting off her soapbox, I am,
Judith Enright
Black Leopard Clayware
in completely drenched San Jose, CA
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