Industry
LEV Solutions for all kinds of welding and cutting processes
With different methods of welding, materials and coatings, matched with frequencies and durations, it can be hard for business owners, or health and safety managers to know when or how to adequately control fumes produced from the welding process. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV) is the primary solution to mitigate welding fume exposure. Welding is a thermal process; so, fumes which include particulates and gases produced from the process are suspended in ambient air.
Welding, Molybdenum Trioxide and Indium Tin Oxide: IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans (Volume 118). - IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer (2018)
At Auto Extract Systems Ltd, we have a number of local exhaust ventilation (LEV) solutions to suit the requirements of your business. Auto Extract Systems Ltd are accustomed to helping all kinds of fabrication and engineering businesses provide pollution-free workplaces.
In February 2019 (after IARC released their report), HSE changed their enforcement expectations for mild steel welding fume that there is, “No known level of safe exposure” and that; “HSE will no longer accept any welding undertaken without suitable exposure control measures in place.” In this bulletin, HSE advised that welding fumes should be adequately controlled using engineering controls, typically LEV.
In November 2019, HSE released updated COSHH Direct Advice Sheets: Guidance for Managers, specifically, 'WL3: Welding Fume Control' advised good welding fume control practice depending on how frequent, the duration and the type of welding. The guidance states which is the best method of LEV depending on the size of the workpieces, for example, downdraught benches, on-torch extraction and extraction arms.
The fume given off by welding and hot cutting processes is a varying mixture of airborne gases and very fine particles, which if inhaled can cause ill health. Gases that may be present in welding and cutting fume are:
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