Metal shop work can be both a job and a hobby. Metal has both utilitarian purposes and artistic ones, enveloping both the practical and the personal. However, whatever you’re using metal for, if you’re working a shop you should be aware of why so many metalworkers have turned to dust collection systems.
What Does A Dust Collection System Have To Do with Metalworking?
No matter how you use metal or in what capacity, dust is inevitable. Often, metal shops have insufficient ventilation, which causes dust to collect within and cloud your shop. On the surface, this seems rather harmless. Unfortunately, it’s far from that.
What Is Silicosis?
Silicosis is a lung fibrosis often caused by inhaling silica … that is, the dust most likely to form if you’re working with metal. Silicosis has killed 14,000 workers in the U.S. since 1968, and at present more than 1 million workers are at risk of developing silicosis. If the dust’s levels of crystalline silica are high, it can take only months or even weeks for someone to develop acute silicosis.
Silicosis Isn’t The Only Danger Involved
Metallic dust can also be extremely flammable, causing 281 combustible accidents between 1980 and 2005. These accidents resulted in the deaths of 119 workers, injured 718, and caused extensive damage to industrial facilities. The fact is that nobody wants to be involved in terrible accidents like these, and nobody wants to be responsible as an employer for death, injury, or property damage. One of the ways you can prevent this kind of catastrophe … whether due to accident or silicosis … is investing in self-contained downdraft tables.
What Are Self-Contained Downdraft Tables?
Self-contained downdraft tables are a kind of downdraft table; in turn, downdraft tables are a form of dust collection that filters the air around your metal shop. Downdraft tables … whether self … contained, wet, or industrial downdraft tables … are compact and can fit easily into any shop. They ensure that the air around you is free of dust and fume without taking up too much space.
A downdraft table is an investment you’ll be happy to make, whether your metal shop is at home or a part of work. It will prevent not only disease but accidents, and ensure that everyone working with metal in that space in safe. A bit of many spent equals potentially multiple lives being saved.