Judith Frederick on sun 11 jan 04
I was wondering if an of you may be able to help....I want to make a
short list of general health and safety "rules" for students, etc. to
be aware of when using the studio and equiptment at the local guild.
Do any of you have such a list posted in your classroom or studio,
that you could share? Atleast it would give us something to start
with, even if we need to modify it to meet our studio.
Thanks in advance.
Judy Frederick
Claycrazy Pottery
Baltimore MD 21234
---------------------------------
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Arnold Howard on mon 12 jan 04
From: "Judith Frederick"
> I was wondering if an of you may be able to help....I want to make a
> short list of general health and safety "rules" for students, etc. to
> be aware of when using the studio and equiptment at the local guild.
Judy, below is a list of kiln safety rules to add to your general list. I
copied these from "Safe Installation of the Electric Kiln," which you can
download from Paragon's website at this link:
http://www.paragonweb.com/catalog.cfm?type=manuals&startrow=31
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P.
arnoldhoward@att.net
Kiln Safety
Check the kiln from time to time. Observe the normal sounds that it makes
and length of firing time. Once you are familiar with the normal operation
of your kiln, you will know when something goes wrong.
Following these pointers adds very little extra time to your daily routine:
Place the kiln on the stand recommended by the manufacturer. When a kiln is
safety tested by UL, the lab fires the kiln on the stand designed for the
kiln. Cinder blocks or bricks can inhibit the flow of air under the kiln.
They can also change the kiln's heating characteristics.
Place the kiln on a non-combustible surface.
Do not install closer than 12" from any wall or combustible surface.
Fire only in a well-ventilated, covered and protected area.
Do not open the lid until kiln has cooled to room temperature and all
switches are off.
Dangerous voltage: do not touch the heating elements with anything.
Disconnect kiln before servicing.
Do not leave kiln unattended while firing. Do not leave a kiln turned on at
your studio while you are at home sleeping.
Wear firing safety glasses when looking into a hot kiln.
Keep the kiln lid or door closed when the kiln is not in use. This keeps
dust out of the kiln. Also, should someone turn on the kiln while you are
away, the closed lid will keep the heat safely inside the firing chamber.
Never place anything on the kiln lid, even when the kiln is idle. If people
become accustomed to placing papers and other objects on the kiln, they may
forget and do that while the kiln is firing.
Remove all tripping hazards from around the kiln. Keep the kiln's supply
cord out of traffic areas.
Do not let the cord touch the side of the kiln, which may damage the cord.
Avoid extension cords.
Do not remove the ware from the kiln until the kiln has cooled to room
temperature. It is possible for thermal shock to break hot ceramic pieces.
The sharp edges of broken ware can injure hands.
After firing glazed ware in your kiln, examine the shelves for glaze
particles. Sharp slivers of glaze stuck to the shelf can cut hands. Before
rubbing a hand over a shelf, be sure the shelf is free of glaze shards.
Fire only approved materials purchased from a knowledgeable supplier. Do not
fire marbles, pieces of concrete, rocks, and other objects. Rapid heating to
high temperature can cause violent reactions in many materials.
Avoid firing toxic materials inside the kiln, such as moth balls. Burning
moth balls create toxic fumes.
Never fire tempered glass inside a kiln. It could explode.
Greenware, which is unfired clay, must be bone dry before firing. Moist
greenware can explode inside the kiln, damaging the ware and the kiln.
Place a piece of greenware against the inside of your wrist. If it feels
cool, it is too wet to fire.
Do not fire cracked shelves. They can break during firing, damaging the ware
inside the kiln.
Store kiln shelves in a dry area. Moist shelves can explode inside a kiln.
If you smell burning plastic, turn the kiln off. Examine the wall outlet and
supply cord for signs of burning.
Never place extra insulation around the kiln in an attempt to conserve
energy. The extra insulation can cause the wiring and the steel case to
over-heat.
Do not wear loose-fitting clothing around a hot kiln.
Unplug the kiln, or turn off the electrical shut-off box or circuit breaker
when the kiln is not in use, especially if you are concerned that someone
could turn it on while you are away.
Remove flammable materials from the kiln room. If you fire a kiln in the
garage, park your car outside. Remove the lawn mower, gasoline, and other
flammable materials. Keep packing materials such as shredded newspapers out
of the kiln room.
Keep unsupervised children away.
william schran on tue 13 jan 04
Judy wrote:>.I want to make a
short list of general health and safety "rules" for students, etc. to
be aware of when using the studio and equipment at the local guild.<
More than half the health issue battle that occurs in studios used by
many different folks is:
ALL clean-up is done as WET clean-up! Absolutely no dry sweeping.
ABSOLUTELY NO sanding of dry clay anywhere inside the building.
If folks just gotta sand their greenware - outside, no exceptions!
This goes for dried glazed surfaces also.
Scoop up trimmings and scraps of clay right after they hit the floor,
before they dry.
Besides posting the signs, you could also have every person working
in the studio sign a pledge to abide by the health & safety
guidelines.
Get folks in this frame of mind right from the start, and they'll
take care of the irresponsible others for you.
Bill
Steve Mills on wed 14 jan 04
Dear Judy,
We have available to us several information sheets on ceramics produced
by the Health & Safety Executive here in the UK, one of which we have
been distributing to Schools and other teaching sectors on our customer
list. These can be accessed on the web at
.
The particular leaflet I'm referring to is:
*Control of exposure to silica dust in small potteries
(Ceramics Information Sheet no. 2)*
It is on the web in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format and if you have the Free
reader from Adobe you can download it and print it off.
Best regards
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
In message , Judith Frederick writes
>I was wondering if an of you may be able to help....I want to make a
>short list of general health and safety "rules" for students, etc. to
>be aware of when using the studio and equiptment at the local guild.
>Do any of you have such a list posted in your classroom or studio,
>that you could share? Atleast it would give us something to start
>with, even if we need to modify it to meet our studio.
>Thanks in advance.
>Judy Frederick
>Claycrazy Pottery
>Baltimore MD 21234
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
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