3M have helpline for respirators and dust masks…I phoned them few days as was noticing tight chest from working in woodshop.
I second the idea of fitting some form of detachable tubing to hand power tools to reduce fine dust at source…or Festool extractor unit on castors?
And also to call each other up when we see the dust extractor not being turned on…I’ve been guilty of this until a fellow member reminded me to switch on extractor when using belt sander.
I’ve vacuumed the chip saw area 3,4 times in last month and it’s clear folks are not switching the dust extractor on …saw dust is piling up an inch and more think in places…I guess people think I’m doing one small cut, not worth switching on the extractor for that. It is. Please switch it on.
Lastly, how often does the large filter unit need changing? Is it time?
Health & Safety Helpline - Available Monday to Friday - 9.00am until 5.00pm:
Our health should be the first priority.
Nothing else really matters.
it would take one or two woodtechs to say yes to this idea and we could implement it immediately.
it would take less than 3 minutes to order masks off screwfix and get them delivered next day to the space.
they are stored in secure clean place.
members buy them from the space.
then you have a get out clause for any one that sues us for not providing equipment. whcih we’re not.
because at the moment we are promoting an environment that will cause a lot of long term serious illnesses and or death.
its probably not even safe to walk in their without a dust mask with the amount of dust lying around not be cleaned for months.
Immediate measures are:
-Order masks (this is being addressed by the woodtechs)
-Encourage/educate people about the hazard and encourage them to select and bring their own masks (I try to do this during inductions, as do other techs, and I will gently nag people generally in the meantime).
-Call people out on using measures in place (i.e. filter and extraction, all the time, even when it’s a pain - something for all to take part in but I’ll make an effort to lead on this).
Medium term measures:
-Look at forced air, full-face respirators for bearded members etc if practicable. These will need to be stored correctly and maintained or it’s not worth doing.
-Look at improving local tool extraction (e.g. festool type solution - although festool itself is very expensive).
-Consider whether material restrictions need to be emplaced generally, not just on MDF. MDF has improved in recent years but is still dangerous, and our shop is, despite best efforts of everyone, poorly ventilated. I will look at doing a review of the more recent guidance on this.
The most important thing which can be done as a practical first step is encouraging people to use the measures in place, and educating ourselves about the risk. Everyone forgets occasionally, myself included. Techs and other members hoovering regularly to control dust levels also helps. It’s never going to be spotless, the key point is reducing risk as low as reasonably practicable. Masks are on their way. This is an important problem, but it’s one which has long been recognised and which the space already has the ability to manage to an extent - one example is the standing ban on treated timber, for example, which can be nastier than MDF.
There’s no point buying anything , we have a filter that controls the problem but we don’t have any filters, if we buy anything it will be great for a week then it will just be useless junk and no money for new fillers
it can be spotless if we chose to do that.
its very easy.
you do some work and then you tidy up.
we can decide to do that. or decide we cant be bothered.
its up to us.
its a very simple chose.
a couple of people decide they want it like that is all it will take. it will spread very quiclky.
it needs strong visable support and backing from wood techs.
We should do this as well, but masks are still important. The filter is excellent, but if someone is doing lots of sanding it’s sensible to wear a mask too.
There are a number of wood techs already pressing people to keep things tidy and clean up after themselves. We as a space can always do better, but given the constraints of storage and the space (plus the fact that we’re still in start-up mode as a space) good progress is being made.
as a woodtaech you should be taking this serious health and saftey matter much more seriously.
you should be getting on board and supporting this rather than nit picking the ideas and derailing stuff thats easy to implement.
dust is a serious issue weather you chose to accept that or not.