How do we better protect workers from welding fumes?

An Australian expert is calling for greater regulatory enforcement to protect workers from cancer-causing welding fumes.

At least 60,000 people are employed as welders in Australia. Worldwide, this number is estimated to be 11 million, with about 110 million more likely exposed to welding in the course of their work.

A new survey of more than 600 Australians employed in welding workplaces has found that 91% of them are exposed to welding fume.

“What was surprising, and I think really concerning, is that 76% of them were [exposed] at a higher level … probably above exposure standard,” says Renee Carey, senior research fellow in the School of Population Health at Curtin University and lead author of the paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

“We didn’t measure quantitatively, so we can’t say definitely above, but probably above exposure standards … that has the potential to cause health effects.”

Welding is the process of joining pieces of metal together by heating them up to melting point and then allowing them to cool, forming a solid joint.

According to Weld Australia, it is “the most economic and effective method for permanently joining two metals – and the only way of joining two pieces to ensure that they serve as a single piece.”

However, the process also produces a complex airborne mixture of metal fume, particulates, and gases, which have been associated with adverse health effects like respiratory disease and neurological disorders.

In March 2017, welding fumes were classified as a known carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Adequate ventilation is a must

Rhys Fitter, a boilermaker/welder from Adelaide, says that ventilation is the key to protecting yourself from welding fume.

“Making sure you’re in a well-ventilated area and just keeping your head away from the fumes as much as you can. Using fans or suction, like big ducting that you can pull down over your weld to get the fumes away from your face,” he explains.

However, according to the Curtin University survey, only 19% of workers reported their workplaces had some form of mechanical ventilation, such as general or local exhaust ventilation, welding booths and exhaust hoods.

A large majority (86.3%) reported leaning over the welding area while working, often putting their breathing zone directly above the fume source. This may be unavoidable in some circumstances, such as when working in restricted or confined spaces (66.2% and 47% of welders, respectively), but could increase exposure.

This is where respiratory protection, like Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR), is crucial.

“I use what’s called an Adflo. It filters fresh air into your helmet, instead of you breathing in the fumes,” says Fitter, who wears his protective equipment regardless of other ventilation in place.  

“You can put different types of filters on them, particle filters all the way up to fumes and vapours. That’s definitely the most helpful.”

But this level of protection doesn’t come cheap. Fitter’s set-up cost him about A$2,500 up-front, with an ongoing cost of replacing additional filters. 

“I had to buy that with my own money, out of my pocket … When you start as an apprentice you can’t afford to buy that. Then you have to just work without it or get [your workplace] to buy it and pay it off weekly,” he says.

“I think it should be provided, personally. It’s PPE, it should be a mandatory thing.”

According to the new study, only 38.8% of welders who did not use other ventilation controls wore an air supplied welding helmet.

“They’re not being used, basically, and they should be,” adds Carey.

Ensuring exposure limits are enforced

Under Australian model work health and safety (WHS) laws, employers must “eliminate or minimise the risks to worker health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable”.

This includes ensuring that workers are not exposed to any airborne contaminant above the workplace exposure limit (WEL). Just this year, Safe Work Australia reduced the WEL from 5 milligrams of welding fumes per cubic metre of air (5mg/m³) to 1mg/m³, on average in an 8-hour workday.

“I think there’s a role for the regulator to look and make sure that those levels are being enforced, to make sure that there’s not exposure above this in workplaces,” says Carey.

“They can give improvement notices to tell workplaces they need to do better and they can offer suggestions … the regulator can say, ‘No, you need this type of ventilation.’ But it’s not legislated, the exact type of protection that needs to be in place.”

In an article published in The Conversation, Carey points out that the United Kingdom has introduced tighter regulations around the control of welding fumes.

“These regulations mean all indoor welding tasks need to use local exhaust ventilation … This is to be supplemented by adequate respiratory protection. We would like to see these regulations enforced in Australia.”

Weld Australia responds

In a statement issued earlier today, Weld Australia, the peak body representing the welding industry in Australia, said: “Weld Australia knows that our members are not reflected in any way in the report published by Curtin University.

“Curtin University did not visit welding workshops, did not undertake fume exposure monitoring or measurement, and did not seek technical input from occupational hygienists.”

Instead, they used a software program to assign the level of exposure to welding fume based on participants’ responses to relevant questions.

“Unsurprisingly, the data presented in Curtin University’s report does not correlate to any data collected by Weld Australia, or the International Institute of Welding (IIW), over the last 30 years. We know our data is accurate because it is based on comprehensive industry databases,” says Weld Australia.

The statement also calls into question the number of respondents – 634 people, equivalent to less than 1% of the welding industry in Australia.

These limitations are explicitly addressed in the research.

“The sample we got is approximately 1% of all welding trade workers in Australia, so it’s not a huge number,” says Carey.

“We do know that we got a lot of people, lot of different age range, different industries, so we covered quite a good range of people.

“We can be somewhat confident that we’re representative, but really don’t know, because we don’t know who we didn’t get.”