Welding fumes are hazardous to your health; period. In this video Etienne Blouin, Director of the Environmental Systems Group for Abicor Binzel USA, explains what can happen if welding fumes are left unchecked; and what steps you can take to start down the path to clean air in your welding process.

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All right, Etienne, we're talking about fume extraction, so tell me what it is. So, fume extraction to be very simple, is the action to take fume, welding fume and particle into a system, whether to filter it or to throw it outside. I'm a manufacturer and you just told me about fume extraction on a really basic level, so why should I care about it? It's very important because welding fume in a welding environment can be one of the main cause for health issues. Also, if you are a manager or the owner of the place, you want to comply to the rule and offer your employee the best working environment possible. It's also more productive to be in a clean place. What am I risking, either as a welder or as a production manager or as a safety manager even, by not having fume extraction? First off, for the welder, because you're the one closer to the high concentration of welding smoke, your health is at risk. It's that simple. Recently in April last year, a large study was released by the IARC proving that welding fumes were carcinogenic. Not only possibly carcinogenic, but really carcinogenic to people. So as a production manager, your risk of not taking care of welding smoke are pretty clear. It's harder to hire people if your environment looks unhealthy and not clean. You're also at risk of health and safety violation and productivity comes higher with a good well organized and clean environment. Tell me about the effects that weld fumes can have on, not just welders, but other employees within the shop. First basic effect that you will notice is a eye and skin irritation. So as soon as there is some welding fume accumulation, you will see that happening. After that, minor respiratory illness like asthma, are going to show up. And if you look at long-term, then you have permanent health issues like a respiratory problem, and the worst could be as bad as getting a cancer related to welding smoke in the environment. On a very basic, and then on a more advanced level, how do I get started with fume extraction? The most basic approach to cleaning air would be to open doors or to use the general ventilation system. Welding smokes are going to mix with the air and then the general system will bring that in, filter some of the particles and release back the air to the general atmosphere. It's basic and general. If you want to go more advanced you will look at local exhaust system. Where the density is higher, where there's more smoke, it is a lot more efficient but it also requires more specific equipment than more dedicated equipment. So you get the best result. It's the most effective way to take care of welding smoke. Within my shop I'm looking around, and I see I do have a need for fume extraction. Where do I get started? I always say start with the most basic common sense approach. You look at where the smoke is created and welding smoke is visible, so you can pretty much understand where it's created, where it's going and who's directly affected or who's putting his head right into the welding smoke. So with common sense you can have a basic plan to reduce it. You can also hire an industrial hygienist to make you a formal plan to reduce welding smoke and the impact on every welder. And it goes by around, you do it once, you look at the result, you want to make sure that you achieve the level that are targeted, and then you do it over again to make sure all of the employees are safe after that.

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