Safety Tidbit 3.30 - Eating, Drinking, Smoking

Safety Tidbit 3.30 – Eating, Drinking, Smoking

Reference:      Smoking Regulations in Pennsylvania

                        OSHA Regulation on Sanitation – 1910.141            

                        Public Health Statement – Manganese – September 2012

This week I visit a manufacturing company that performed welding. As they had some employee complaints about the smell, they requested air monitoring for a paint operation that they performed at the one end of their huge facility. As I entered the facility, I was hit by the smell of cigarettes. Also, many of the workers had cigarette lit while they were clamping metal pieces into place to be welded. Furthermore, there were water bottles and open drink containers at just about every work station. I thought I had been pushed back into the 1980’s prior to all the work OSHA did on Indoor Air Quality and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS).

No in the State of the Pennsylvania, The PA Clean Indoor Air Act (CIAA) regulates smoking in public places. Smoking is prohibited in places of employment. The Department of Health is the Commonwealth agency responsible for implementing the law through education and enforcement of the provisions of the CIAA. So, really, no one is able to check what an employer is doing. Ultimately, the new safety manager for this facility wants to ban smoking but knows he is going to meet a lot of resistance. Hopefully, this will help him in his fight. Good Luck!

The second issue I noted above was drinking in the workplace. So, it wasn’t enough that they are welding without any local exhaust ventilation, smoking when they aren’t welding, they want to drink at their work stations, so all the contaminants can be ingested as well. These workers really have a death wish.  Now OSHA states: “Eating and drinking areas. No employee shall be allowed to consume food or beverages in a toilet room nor in any area exposed to a toxic material {emphasis added}. [1910.141(g)(2)]” Furthermore, the same standard defines toxic material as:

Toxic material means a material in concentration or amount which exceeds the applicable limit established by a standard, such as 1910.1000 and 1910.1001 or, in the absence of an applicable standard, which is of such toxicity so as to constitute a recognized hazard that is causing or is likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

Let’s take manganese which is a common component in welding fumes as it is used to improve hardness, stiffness, and strength to steel. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) states the health effects of manganese include behavioral changes and other nervous system effects, which include movements that may become slow and clumsy, referred to as “manganism.” Other less severe nervous system effects such as slowed hand movements have been observed in some workers exposed to lower concentrations in the work place. Ultimately, I think you will agree that welding fumes are a toxic material. I wish the safety manager good luck in his cultural battle. Interestingly, OSHA inspected them just a few months ago and mentioned nothing. They were only worried about the hearing conservation program.

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have an interesting safety or health question please let me know.